Digital transformation across industries is not a new concept. With digital technologies revamping old playbooks since the dawn of the millennium, enterprises have strived to make the most of IT and data modernization for impactful business outcomes.
Time and again, there have been debates regarding the scope of digital transformation in the government sector and for public sector organizations. However, many of these ideas remained in theory. But all of that changed with one significant event – the Covid-19 pandemic. As public services still focused on digitizing their front-end services, the pandemic ushered in need to re-engineer the sector’s underlying operations, systems and processes. The old playbooks just wouldn’t work in a nearly 100% remote world. Digital transformation was no longer just a choice – it was mandatory in order to keep the lights glowing on citizen services.
Interactions with citizens as well as employees were now entirely on virtual platforms, highlighting the need for a singular, consistent experience across digital channels.
As virtual connections became the new norm, the pressure increased on governmental organizations to function more effectively. In a rapidly digitizing world, data is your most crucial asset. However, legacy infrastructures have data stored across silos, making it difficult to collate that information. Public sector enterprises need to reimagine their data and IT architecture, now more than ever, to perform seamlessly and address the needs of their new-age citizens and employees.
So, how do companies achieve that?
Total Experience: A Singular, Consistent Experience for your Business Transformation
Enter Total Experience (TX)- the critical link in bringing your customer – or in the case of public sector organizations – citizens and employee channels under a single umbrella for a unified experience. Creating a TX strategy becomes a must for empowering both customers and employees with seamless end-to-end interactions. Government CIOs are now focusing on technologies that interlink CX, MX, EX and UX disciplines under a singular purview to increase confidence in government services. TX combines various data and channels that were previously stored or functioned in isolation for a holistic service design and delivery.
The seamless functioning of our everyday mobile and enterprise apps needs to be replicated at the citizen services and government levels. In fact, 56% of workers say searching for relevant information in different apps hinders their overall performance. Public sector companies need to invest in TX strategies to provide a positive employee and citizen experience.
Government Digital Transformation Trends for 2022 – TX at the Core
1. New-age citizens demand seamless omnichannel interactions with public services
Digital technologies make your life seamless with an app for everything. However, each consumer has their demand and mode of preference. Their choice of medium may vary from searching for information to resolving queries. Some like to interact over calls, while others prefer emails. On the same note, specific individuals may not want to go beyond texting to have their queries resolved. In this day and age, virtual interactions are taking center stage. A unified omnichannel experience paves the way for the seamless exchange of information between citizens and public services.
Unifying experiences across various digital channels is a valuable tool for governments to track the needs of their citizens and handle critical emergencies.
Government apps, especially in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, have been dishing out services for healthcare and other city-level amenities. In the government sector, you are not focusing on one target audience group. Instead, your target group is your citizens who come from diverse backgrounds.
A TX approach becomes critical for institutions to effectively coordinate among themselves and pool critical data to open up doors for data-driven opportunities. Doing away with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and creating an omnichannel experience for each citizen’s unique needs leads to successful two-way interactions between government services and citizens, thus building citizens’ trust in public services.
2. New age employees demand seamless remote connectivity, especially in the post-pandemic era
The adoption of remote work in early 2020 dismantled centuries of old-fashioned playbooks about the workplace. Physical interactions and meetings were replaced by video calls to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of enterprises. Court trials, government conferences, hiring processes, and even training of employees began to take place through screens, pushing the boundaries of IT infrastructure. Digital adoption enables governments to access their ex-employees’ work records across departments, opening up doors for seamless hiring, training, and onboarding.
As the world came to a halt, remote working became the new norm. Government sector organizations now need to focus on the well-being of their employees. Companies that adopt total experience strategies to connect with workers seamlessly will stay ahead of their competitors. Public enterprises need to have a planned TX strategy and execution in place for improved end products and healthy work experience.
3. Hyper-connected public services is the new norm
“Alexa, switch on the AC!” A few moments later, your AC starts, and you don’t even have to move an inch. IoT, or the Internet of Things, has been the talk of the town in the tech world and for all the right reasons. The disruptive technology has enabled enterprises and factories to upgrade their quality of work and services.
With the doors open for hyperconnectivity, governments have already begun implementing initiatives for a more interconnected future. Smart city planning by governments is based on making optimum use of the available data to provide top-tier services to its citizens. Governments can now implement IoT sensors to manage traffic, parking and equipment failures. Data collected in real-time allows room for further study and predict uncertain behaviors for a frictionless experience.
These initiatives will further allow public sector organizations to bridge the gap between the needs of new-age citizens and deliver the right services at the right time.
4. The need for fast-paced, data-driven decision making and information dissemination calls for a new look at data architectures
The onset of the pandemic began a time of uncertainty for people worldwide. During a grave crisis like Covid-19, people looked up to their governments to control panic and facilitate the necessary services.
Uncertain times call for uncertain measures as we saw professionals coming together, sharing information to find a solution to the virus. The aftermath of the Covid era will be much more crucial as government sector organizations look to keep up with citizens’ demands for information and insights on an ongoing basis.
Governments need to make optimum use of the available data for comprehensive decision-making for the welfare of their people. Taking the learnings from the pandemic, public sector organizations must manage critical data to alert and inform their citizens about infrastructure closures, vaccinations, public transport delays, and so much more.
With secure and scalable measures and ethical AI tools, governments can utilize the available data to foster data-driven decision-making and information seeding.
Acuvate: The Trusted Partner for Digital Transformation in the Government Sector
For a long time, the government sector has relied on traditional approaches like paperwork and face-to-face interactions. But after Covid-19, the needs of digital-native employees and customers are finally being met.
Acuvate has empowered public sector organizations worldwide by catering to their digital transformation needs. Acuvate’s innovative solutions have enabled government bodies to ensure seamless public services across channels – from ensuring safe water supply to citizens to ensuring seamless, ongoing dialogues between governments and citizens.
Making data-driven decisions is at the core of smart governance. Now embrace digital transformation for greater responsiveness, transparency and sustainability in your day-to-day activities.
Ask for a demo and take a step closer to becoming a trusted, citizen-centric government organization.
