Modernizing the Government Contact Center to Improve the Citizen Experience 

Modernizing the government contact center has never been more critical to improving the citizen experience. Citizens look toward the public sector during some of their most vulnerable life challenges–from seeking vaccine information during a global pandemic to unemployment benefits from unexpected job loss. Receiving a prompt response from government agents makes a marked difference.

To unpack this opportunity, SuccessKPI VP of Sales Emil Modugno and Maximus VP of Citizen Engagement Michelle Paiz provided a live webinar about their experience spearheading government modernization with AI-powered, advanced data analytics. In this article, dive into highlights from the discussion, including tools and tips for driving agency modernization in the cloud, yielding an overall improved citizen and employee experience.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world in many ways, including the way we work and communicate. Prior to COVID-19, much of the agency workforce worked on-site but with a push to move toward remote work, agencies were forced to adapt and modernize their experience. Zero trust and cloud-first became a priority for government leaders.

While agencies were forced to adapt quickly to hybrid work environments, cloud success remains a separate topic to be tackled in the aftermath. There are many reasons why state, local, civilian, defense, and intelligence agencies are seeking cloud solutions, including increasing efficiency and providing a better experience for their constituents, members, and employees. Overall, the consensus is that better work environments, whether hybrid or fully remote, yields happier employees, and thus, better experiences for citizens receiving their service. 

However, despite a shift in agencies moving to the cloud, many are still experiencing challenges in achieving a full digital transformation. 

“As we work through these modernizations with our customers, we’ve noticed…many agencies are data-rich, but they’re very insight-poor,” said SuccessKPI’s VP of Sales Emil Modugno.  

A recent study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of SuccessKPI revealed that nearly half of all contact center decision-makers have little to no success with their cloud migration efforts. And within that study, only 23% of survey respondents say they experienced a completely successful migration to a CCaaS solution.

Due to technical complexity and lack of resources, leaders in contact center spaces have been left frustrated, and at a loss of how to fully adapt to the cloud environment and create a roadmap to success.

Michelle Paiz, Maximus VP of Citizen Engagement, faced similar challenges when first transitioning to the cloud.  

“I believe we went through the same pain as everyone else. When we first transitioned to the cloud, we were in that same category of the 54% of respondents who were unsatisfied with their cloud contact center migration,” said Michelle. “And now we have moved to the 23% of respondents whose cloud migration is a complete success.” 

This key to complete success is highlighted in the Forrester study, where 79% of respondents agreed that having the right cloud toolset and having the right partners is critical to cloud contact center optimization. Leveraging the right cloud toolset is essential for government agencies to meet and exceed the expectations of their constituents.

In fact, “satisfied customers are nine times more likely to trust their government or agency,” as highlighted in McKinsey’s 2022 report, Prioritizing Customer Experience in Government. Agencies need to ensure an increased level of care for every single citizen interaction. If this does not take place, government agencies risk distrust from their citizens with the government. They must focus on delivering exceptional CX strategies where they are not only providing services but building trust within their constituents. 

Tools such as speech and text analytics can be used to provide valuable insights into the citizen experience, enabling government organizations to be more agile and responsive. 

“Our agents need to be able to respond to our citizens not only in the right way but with the right level of empathy,’ said Michelle. “We must recognize that when someone has been affected by a hurricane or a natural disaster, we need to answer that call, and we need to answer that call immediately, and triage them effectively.” 

There is an opportunity for the public sector to achieve full customer journey visibility across channels and platforms with SuccessKPI’s insight and action platform. With the ability to instantly unlock data, discover insights, empower agents, and enable action, government agencies can be fully equipped to understand and serve the needs of their constituents.