Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Citizen Service – That’s What It’s All About

Wouldn’t it be great if the new administration made “citizen service” a real priority…treated it like one of the most important products of government? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they issued a press release saying, “we’re going to embrace the 6 principles of citizen service identified by the Federal Web Managers Council in their white paper, 'Putting Citizens First: Transforming Online Government,' and make that our vision for citizen service in this country?”

When then interact with their government, every citizen should be able to:

  1. “Easily find relevant, accurate, and up-to-date information;
  2. Understand information the first time they read it;
  3. Complete common tasks efficiently;
  4. Get the same answer whether they use the web, phone, email, live chat, read a brochure, or visit in-person;
  5. Provide feedback and ideas and hear what the government will do with them;
  6. Access critical information if they have a disability or aren’t proficient in English.”

Wouldn’t it be great if they pulled service delivery functions (websites, call centers, publication centers, information centers) together, under one umbrella, making sure that citizen services are delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible? What a great message that would give the American people – to let them know that serving them really is what government is all about.

2 comments:

Sarah Bourne said...

It's the season of Hope and Change! The Forum report apparently was well received by the transition team...

Anonymous said...

And to take your wonderful vision a step further, wouldn't it be great if agencies would proactively collaborate with other agencies to deliver related services in a unified manner? or at least help inform their customers where to find related services? Most of the complicated problems facing America and the world will require "packages" of programs from multiple agencies, the private sector and the NGO community.

We all need to think what's best for the customer even if it isn't your specific program or service. Take the next step, recommend other services. Your neighbors will thank you!