When considering the concept of customer engagement, we so often do from an entrepreneurial perspective. But there is a whole other realm of governmental organizations that must also consider a host of customer experience related concerns.
Of course, in this case the term “customer” can usually be appropriated to mean “constituent,” but for many national, state, and local institutions, the core mission remains the same. Private or public, these entities must strive to provide an efficient, engaging, and beneficial experience to those they serve.
These governing organizations are also susceptible to the same customer experience management pitfalls as other businesses, especially with regards to digital connectivity and data management. Furthermore, when overseeing these institutions, it is impossible to move forward without also considering the legacy of the past. And, so often, this can mean untangling an array of arcane practices and siloed divisions that impede progress.
This very topic brought Jim Smith, Chief Information Officer for the State of Maine, to PegaWORLD 2015 for a session titled, “The Cloud – Enabling Strategic Applications,” to talk about how the state relied on Pega to help maximize a strategic cloud-based application system to drive efficiency and engagement.
“When you look at the state of Maine, we have 14 agencies,” said Smith. “We have the Department of Transportation. We have the Department of Health and Human Services, Public Safety, and so on. And if you say that to a person on the street, they would say, ‘Okay, you have 14 different business functions.’ But you say that to a business and marketing audience, and you know that we have 14 different silos. We have that trap of the past.”
Smith talked about how Maine had been previously mired in a slog of pipeline clogging paperwork.
“The State of Maine owns a couple of hundred buildings and we have to do structural studies of them now because we are storing so much paper,” Smith continued. “And what does paper mean? Paper translates back to inefficient processes.”.png)
Maine’s enterprising strategy was to leverage cloud-based technology to build a customized and agile system that increases efficiency, transparency, and predictability. The initial goal was to increase overall efficiency by at least 10% across the entire municipal workings of the state.
Thanks to innovative technological platforms such as those offered by Pegasystems, the tools needed to break free of obsolete legacy systems now exist.
“We went from a file cabinet to a smartphone app,” said Smith. “We want to digitize everything and we talk a lot about mobile. Our Department of Marine Resources did an interesting study and found that most of our fishermen do not own PCs, but they all own mobile devices. So how do we connect with them? It’s through the mobile devices.”
The exact term “customer engagement” might not be linguistically appropriate, but the idea that it represents is exactly accurate. The State of Maine is acting like any innovative business in a dynamic marketplace should.
It is embracing technology to breakdown siloes, increase efficiency, and, most importantly, it is figuring out new ways to connect with its audience in a meaningful and relevant manor.
About the Author: Mark Johnson
Mark is CEO & CMO of Loyalty360. He has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs.