Citizens are also customers

As customers have become accustomed to enhanced service delivery from the private sector, increasingly both citizens and businesses are viewing the public sector as another provider of services. This is particularly evident in the public sector in South Africa, as communities are vocally, and sometimes violently, expressing their dissatisfaction as a ‘customer’ of the state.

“If these models are to realise the desired benefits, they must be based on meeting customer needs more efficiently and more effectively. This means keeping the customer’s needs at the core of every decision, from strategy formulation and design through to execution.”

Browne says this often requires government process re-engineering in order to put in place improved, value-for-money processes that will reduce waste and duplication, and produce an effective ‘customer journey’, being the experience a customer has when interacting with service providers.

Governments across the world are facing similar challenges from increasingly demanding ‘customers’. However, they are confronting these issues in different ways and the results being achieved vary considerably.

For example, provincial governments in Canada set standards for everything – from the maximum number of times a telephone should ring before a call is answered, to the length of time a client should wait in line at a service counter.

There are numerous successes around the world in areas such as taxation, land and document registration, and public health.

There are also many initiatives already under way which demonstrate how, in the right circumstances, effective public service delivery models can be developed by combining the complementary capabilities and cultures of the public and private sectors.

Browne says the development of customer-centric models calls for several considerations – customer insight; looking at customers’ wants and needs in a holistic manner; distinguishing between means and ends; focusing on improved customer journeys; measurable benefits; and understanding the strategic risks associated with various service delivery models.

Browne highlights five key strategic enablers for the public sector to deliver successfully on the customer promise:
Understand your customer – ‘Customer-centricity’

One of the core requirements for any customer-centric strategy is customer insight. This encompasses a choice of channel and delivery preferences, the setting of service standards, the creation and empowerment of ‘customer champions’ at different levels in the organisation, and the implementation of processes that ensure continuous improvement in service delivery. These all enable the creation of multiple delivery channels as well as the alignment of service delivery with customer journeys.
Pull down the walls – ‘Connected government’

Too often in the public sector, structures are independent vertical units (or ‘silos’) necessary for administrative purposes. There should rather be a ‘connected government’, seamlessly aligning multiple government departments with customer journey needs. This does not necessarily mean a wholesale government restructuring, but rather the alignment of a common customer-centric vision with objectives, outcomes, information and process flows.

Empower your institution – ‘Build capacity’

To deliver effective public services, strategy will have to focus on performance improvement and process reform, aided by technology. There also needs to be understanding and support from top level leadership, various institutions within the government need to be empowered, and there must be strong focus on internal people, capacity and training. A customer-centric culture change is required throughout the organisation.

Realise benefits through appropriate models – ‘Deliver the promise’

A careful evaluation of the contribution of technology is required, with e- Government being recognised as an increasingly essential medium for service delivery. The use of collaborative partnerships, particularly with the private sector, should also be considered carefully. Where any of these partnerships are selected, risk management is a priority, achieved through clearly defined goals, fixed time frames, continuous performance monitoring, risk sharing, flexible partnership agreements, expectation management and awareness of any challenges arising from ethical impacts.

Continuously improve – ‘Innovate’

Innovation and continuous improvement are essential to the sustainability of public sector transformation. However, some public sector organisations have resisted the concept of innovation because of lack of competition, also believing that it is only relevant to the more bottom-line focused private sector. With this clearly no longer the case, public sector organisations need to capture best practices from other organisations (in both the public and private sectors) to drive innovation and benchmark themselves appropriately.

Browne concludes that while challenges in the public sector are unique, as services are generally delivered on a wide scale – often involving several different public sector agencies – this does not mean customer satisfaction should be any less important or any less achievable than in the private sector.

“We hope we are seeing the start of commitment to improved service delivery in South Africa with the recent announcement of government’s five-year Medium-term Strategic Framework.”