THE ROAD AHEAD FOR PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY - PUBLIC SECTOR RESEARCH CENTRE - DELIVERING ON THE CUSTOMER PROMISE* - PWC
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Public Sector Research Centre The road ahead for public service delivery Delivering on the customer promise*
01
Foreword
About
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Key Government/
Public Sector contacts
‘The public sector is, collectively, the world’s largest service provider.
Any incremental improvement in public services positively impacts
millions of people. The first step to ‘delivering the customer promise’
is to know your customers and their needs.’
Wim Oosterom
Public sector leaders around the world money is a core concern today. This is share know-how and identify emerging
face a common set of challenges if prompting the public sector to explore trends in best practice amongst these
their services are to meet the increased new sustainable models for service organisations, as well as drawing on
expectations of their ‘customers’ – both delivery – models that can improve developments in the private sector from
citizens and businesses. However, customer experience and outcomes which public sector organisations may be
our experience shows that while the through enhanced service levels at the able to benefit. These insights inform the
challenges may be consistent, the ways same or reduced cost. The solution lies following paper.
in which they are being confronted, in developing customer-centric models
and the results that are being achieved, that draw inspiration from the relative Marking the launch of our ‘Public Sector
vary considerably. success with which the private sector has Research Centre’ (www.psrc-pwc.com),
addressed this situation, and that put the a focus for our global public sector
One common challenge faced by customer at the heart of service design know-how, this paper brings together
every organisation is how to service its and service delivery. our own ‘connected thinking’ on how the
customers better. The public sector is public sector can respond to changing
no exception. Traditionally, it has been While the public sector does not choose customer expectations. Because these
seen as a passive vehicle for executing its customers, the fact that it is required responses will inevitably vary according
social policy mandated by legislation. to service them and their diverse to context, we are not seeking to define
Increasingly, however, accustomed to requirements is another factor driving solutions. However, as an advisor to public
enhanced service delivery from the private the need for new service delivery models. sector organisations around the world,
sector, citizens/businesses view the public To deliver on the customer promise, we have drawn on our own experience,
sector as another provider of ‘services’ public sector organisations must build as well as on the views of public sector
– services for which they pay taxes. ‘connected government’, seamlessly stakeholders, to identify five key enablers
aligning multiple government departments for delivering on the customer promise.
To address this, the public sector must with customer journey needs.
find ways of improving the efficiency The ‘customer promise’ is part of the We hope that this paper provides readers
and effectiveness of its service delivery. inherent agenda of governance for the with a stimulating foundation for debate
This means providing value for money by public sector and sets out the standard and further investigation.
improving quality of service (accessibility of service that government is required to
for all and satisfactory customer provide to its customers.
experiences and outcomes), and
reducing the costs involved in providing As one of the world’s largest globally
those services. integrated professional services
organisations, we act for governments at
Because the need for a customer- all levels (international, national, state and Wim Oosterom
oriented focus coincides with tightening local). The strength of our global network Global Government Leader
government budgets, providing value for means that we are uniquely positioned to
The Public Sector Research Centre is PricewaterhouseCoopers’ centre for insights and research into best practice in government
and the public sector, including the interface between the public and private sectors. The Centre has a particular focus on how to
achieve the delivery of better public services, both nationally and internationally.
Contents
Page
01 Executive summary 2
The burning platform
02 Drivers for change 8
Getting it right
03 Understand your customer: ‘Customer is king’ in the public sector too 14
04 Pull down the walls: Agency silos to give way to connected government 22
05 Empower: Build capacity to deliver results 28
06 Realise benefits: Customer-centric models to deliver the customer promise 40
07 Continuously improve: Innovate to sustain benefits 52
Conclusion
08 Delivering on the customer promise 60
09 PricewaterhouseCoopers and Key Government/Public Sector contacts 62
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 1
01 Executive summary ‘Government has to fit the rhythm of life of the people.’ Jean-François Copé, Minister – Budget and Administrative Reform, France
01
Meeting customer expectations calls for a customer-centric
approach – one that is built upon integration between public
sector agencies and that leverages technology and, where
relevant, private sector expertise to develop new public service
delivery models.
Reforms in the public sector aimed There are many initiatives already
at improving service delivery have underway which demonstrate how, in Five key strategic
received considerable focus during the right circumstances, effective public enablers for delivering on
the last decade. Global trends service delivery models can be developed
the customer promise
such as rising customer expectations, by combining the complementary
budgetary constraints, global competition capabilities and cultures of the public
for investment, public and private sectors. Technology can
sector reform programmes and changing also be a key enabler. The development
demographics have transformed the of customer-centric models calls for
environment in which the public sector customer insight, looking at customers’ Understand your customer
wants and needs (both demographic
1 ’Customer-centricity’
operates. This, in turn, has broken
down old constraints and created new and attitudinal), in a holistic manner –
opportunities. Fundamental to the distinguishing means and ends, focusing
demand for better public services are on improved customer journeys and
the heightened expectations of citizens measurable benefits, and understanding
– expectations that transcend economic the strategic risks associated with various
Pull down the walls
status, geographies and the different service delivery models. 2 ‘Connected government’
methods of funding, managing and
delivering these services. Through our work with the public sector
organisations across the world that
Driven by these changing expectations, have successfully embarked upon such
the public sector is increasingly required transformations, we have charted a
Empower your institution
to redefine its role, strengthen its certain consistency of approach. This 3 ‘Build capacity’
customer focus and build integrated paper is based upon our experience
service delivery models. If they are to of working with these organisations,
realise the desired benefits, these models supported by interviews with public
must be based on meeting customer sector leaders. The core message is that
needs more efficiently and more effectively. ‘Delivering on the customer promise’ is
based upon five key strategic enablers: Realise benefits
This means keeping the customer’s 4 ‘Deliver the promise’
1 Understand your customer –
needs at the core of every decision,
‘Customer-centricity’
from strategy formulation and design
through to execution. Government 2 Pull down the walls –
process re-engineering is often ‘Connected government’
needed to put in place improved,
3 Empower your institution – Continuously improve
value-for-money processes that will
‘Build capacity’ 5 ‘Innovate’
reduce waste and duplication,
producing an effective ‘customer journey’
(the experiences a customer has when
interacting with service providers).
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 3
01 Executive summary
‘The importance of 4 Realise benefits through appropriate
models – ‘Deliver the promise’
the drive towards enhanced service
delivery. One of the core requirements
deploying a modern 5 Continuously improve – ‘Innovate’
for any customer-centric strategy is
customer insight. In-depth knowledge
client-centric approach about the customer can be drawn from
in public services is Throughout this paper, which is closely
structured around each of these five
various sources of data - demographic,
behavioural, needs-based and
generally well accepted enablers, we explain the common trends attitudinal. Once assembled, this data
and challenges facing public sector
in the public sector and organisations, as well as using ‘real
is built into a joined-up ‘big picture’
of customer segments, providing a
has become a goal. It’s world’ examples to illustrate the diverse foundation for the creation of multiple
ways in which they are responding. service delivery channels aligned
a question of country The purpose is to provide readers with customer journey needs. Other
competitiveness and with a broad-brush template for public
sector reform aimed at enhancing
core elements in a customer-centric
strategy include the setting of service
attractiveness – civil service delivery. There are no instant standards that reflect customer-
solutions available - and no single
servants are sensible correct approach.
oriented measures, the creation
and empowerment of ‘customer
to that. The challenges champions’ at different levels in the
1 Customer-centricity organisation, and the implementation
today reside in how you of processes which ensure that
For the public sector, the provision
achieve that across all of customer-centric services is no
customer insight becomes the driver
for continuous improvement in service
departments. It is also simple task. A number of significant
challenges need to be overcome.
delivery. This enables the creation of
a continuous change Services must be delivered on a
multiple delivery channels, as well as
the alignment of service delivery with
process.’ wide scale. Customer journeys often
interface with several different public
customer journeys.
M. Wiseler, Ministre de la Fonction Publique sector agencies. Diversity issues must
et de la Réforme Administrative,
be addressed to take into account 2 Connected government
Ministre des Travaux Publics, Grand-Duchy of
Luxembourg, January 2007 the unique attributes and channel Almost all public and private sector
preferences of individual customers. organisations have hierarchical
And a detailed understanding of structures. Within these structures,
the costs involved in providing independent vertical units (or ‘silos’)
these services must be developed. are a common feature, necessary for
Customer-centricity will often also administrative purposes. Removing
need to take account of internal agency silos, and creating connected
customers – the public sector agencies government, does not necessarily imply
that have to be integrated as part of wholesale government restructuring.
4 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers
01
It does, however, call for the alignment • People/Capacity/Training (focusing on
‘If governments
of a common customer-centric the internal capacity-building that is
vision with objectives, outcomes, needed to manage the transformation, do not succeed
information and process flows. In managing talent and training public-
different organisations, key factors sector people to respond to changing in enhancing the
involved in the drive to build connected customer needs) competitiveness of
government will include building visible
leadership at a strategic level, setting
• Culture (change management the public employer
throughout the organisation is the
common goals (service standards) for
connected government, focusing on the
key to a successful customer- in the labour market,
front end (where services are actually
centric strategy).
the possibilities for
delivered), breaking down intra-agency
silos before moving to dismantle inter- 4 Deliver the promise recruiting highly-
agency silos and putting in place an To deliver the customer promise, the qualified personnel
enabling policy and legal framework. overall goals of public service delivery
must be clearly understood. These
to public organisations
3 Build capacity are quality of service (the accessibility, will diminish
timeliness and calibre of service levels);
Delivering effective public services
cost of service (the drive towards value dramatically.’
calls for multi-level transformation
for money); and customer segmentation OECD ‘Public sector – an employer of choice’
– changing the way public sector
(the need for different service channels Report on the competitive public employment
organisations think and act, how project by Kirsi Aijaila.
and service offerings based on
they view their roles, and how they
comprehensive customer insight). The
share information between agencies,
first step towards delivering the promise
with businesses and with their
is to clearly define the role of the public
customers. Five elements are integral
sector organisation – whether this
to building this capacity:
be policy-maker, regulator or service
• Strategy (performance improvement provider. This calls for close scrutiny
and process reform, aided by of the division between its ‘sovereign’
technology) function (implementing policy) and
its ‘non-core’ function (undertaking
• Leadership (securing the
activities which in some cases could
understanding and support of top-
be handled equally well, or better, by
level leadership)
third parties). Careful evaluation of how
• Organisational design (creating technology will help to meet overall goals
empowered institutions responsible is needed, with eGovernment being
for a pan-government focus on recognised as an increasingly essential
customer-centricity and connected medium for service delivery.
government)
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 5
01 Executive summary
The use of collaborative partnerships best practices from other organisations
(whether Public-Private Partnerships, (in both the public and private sectors)
Public-Voluntary Sector Partnerships, to drive innovation. Benchmarking
shared services or outsourcing) should can play a useful part in this process,
be carefully considered. Where any helping organisations to understand
of these are selected, assiduous risk which aspects of their service delivery
management is a priority, achieved through will benefit from innovation, as well as
clearly-defined goals, fixed time-frames, how best to document and adopt
continuous performance monitoring, risk new approaches.
sharing, flexible partnership agreements,
expectation management and awareness
of any challenges arising from ethical Structure of the paper
impacts.
This paper is divided into two sections.
5 Innovate Section I defines what we refer to as ‘The
burning platform’ (ie the reasons driving
Innovation and continuous the need for a change in the nature of
improvement are essential to the public service delivery).
sustainability of public sector Section II presents the approaches public
transformation. However, some public sector leaders need to consider when
sector organisations have resisted addressing the challenges they face in
making public service delivery efficient
the concept of innovation, believing and effective – ‘Getting it right’. Within
that it is more relevant to the private each section, chapters conclude with
sector. There has sometimes been a short ‘Nutshell’ summaries of key
perception that, because the public messages, signposting readers through
sector was not operating in the same the paper.
competitive environment, it was
therefore not subject to the bottom-
line criteria for success or failure which
drive private sector innovation. With
this clearly no longer the case, public
sector organisations need to capture
6 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers01 PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 7
02 The burning platform
Drivers for change
‘The reality of the public sector today is that it is assessed by the
efficiency of its service delivery. No longer is the effectiveness
of the public sector measured by the revenue it generates or the
employment it provides...’
R Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary, eGovernance, Government of India02
Driven by growing customer expectations, the efficiency and
effectiveness of public service delivery are increasingly seen as
key metrics of public sector performance. Addressing this issue
is therefore a stated priority in most countries.
Many countries have undertaken public • Experience – Personalisation of
Ipsos MORI Findings – UK
sector reforms to improve the quality of service is necessary to ensure that
public service delivery. However, while the customers’ experiences are on a par
Findings of the research conducted by
demand for better services is a common with what they are used to receiving Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute on
factor, the spectrum of expectation varies from the private sector. customer services include:
from country to country. Hoped-for
1. Despite real improvements having been
improvements in customer experience and Why focus on service delivery? made, customer services may still be
outcomes span seven key areas: lagging expectations
Customer awareness
• Speed – The time taken to deliver Citizens today are more aware of their 2. People are keen to be treated by the
a service should be the shortest State as customers
rights, have better access to information
possible for both the customer on public services and consequently 3. Customer expectations include Speed
and the organisation delivering and Authenticity. They expect services
have higher expectations of service
the service, right first time to be personalised to more diverse life-
levels. Because they have become styles, allowing Flexibility and Choice.
accustomed to capable private sector
• Engagement – The manner in which Ben Page
organisations providing high levels of
services are delivered should be seen Chaiman Ipsos MORI Research Institute
customisation and other benefits, they
as customer-centric (ie participatory
are not prepared to accept that public
and trustworthy with the customer’s
sector organisations are incapable of
needs at the core)
improving their own service delivery.
• Responsive – There should be an They also expect a positive customer
‘intelligent’ mechanism in place to experience and better returns on the
address any variation in meeting taxes they pay. Further, a number of
service levels and to drive changes in countries have empowered citizens with
the service delivery organisation ‘Right to Information’ legislation leading
to heightened awareness about customer
• Value – The customer needs to believe
rights and, consequently, customer service.
that the service delivery mechanism is
cost effective, and value is driven by
Budgetary constraints
customer outcomes,
not organisational processes Reduced budgets for investing in public
sector service delivery are the result of
• Integration – The service delivery various factors. Higher budgetary
mechanism should be integrated. allocations towards pensions, education
There should be no ‘wrong door’ policy and health1 in many countries are
for the customer undoubtedly one of these factors. At the
same time, it is becoming increasingly
• Choice – There should be multiple
difficult for many governments to fund the
channels for service delivery, so that
public sector by increasing taxes – partly
customers can have ‘channels of
because of resistance to this route, and
choice’, depending on specific needs
partly because, in a globalised society,
at specific times
1 Serving the 21st Century citizen: The Global Perspective
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 902 The burning platform
Drivers for change
many of the people/businesses who pay Greater accountability and transparency
the bulk of these taxes are more mobile The heightened role of the media and
than ever before. social activism have combined to create
greater demand for accountability and
Tightening budgets and the need for transparency. However, the issue of
value for money with respect to tax accountability is particularly complicated
payments by citizens/businesses are for the public sector. When things go
forcing governments to address the wrong for public sector organisations, it
issue of public service delivery. In can often make front-page news – instantly
many countries, changes have been transforming a management issue into
introduced, aimed at ensuring that a political problem. The figure opposite
the public sector performs under presents findings from the World Bank on
two key metrics: (a) quality of service the status of public sector effectiveness,
– accessibility for all and satisfactory where accountability and transparency
customer experiences and outcomes, are both important measures. The study
and (b) cost of service, leading to underscores the need for most nations to
‘value for money’. do a lot more to address this critical design
element of effective service delivery.
Figure 1: Drivers for change Drive for competitiveness
Attracting investment to fund economic
growth is a priority for most countries.
Changing Increasingly, investment fund managers
Demographics
regard the efficiency of the public sector
Public sector as one of the factors in evaluating the
reform agenda
investment destination. In this context,
the cost of doing business becomes
Global competition
for investments an important measure of public sector
efficiency. Ensuring reduced cost calls
Budgetary constraints for a balanced approach which is aligned
both to the needs of the customer and
to realising greater efficiencies in service
Customer awareness
delivery. Thus, global competition for
‘investments’ as a means for economic
PricewaterhouseCoopers growth is also driving the agenda for
reforms in public service delivery.
10 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers02
Figure 2: Government Effectiveness Benchmarking
0th - 10 th percentile
10th - 25th percentile
25th - 50 th percentile
50th - 75th percentile
75th - 90 th percentile
90 th - 100 th percentile
World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators Country Snapshot, 2005
Public sector reform agenda (see chart opposite). This will, over time,
Many governments, especially those in result in reduced working-age populations,
the least developed and developing placing greater pressure upon smaller
countries, face a common need to meet numbers to produce the wealth needed
the United Nation’s Millennium to support living standards. It is also
Development Goals2. The achievement already adding significantly to the costs
of Millennium Development Goals is
closely related to the effective delivery Figure 3: Average life expectancy in years
of public services. This necessitates
Hong Kong
improved public sector performance. Japan
Consequently, many of the funding Sweden
programmes of multilateral and bilateral Switzerland
institutions are contingent upon these Canada
governments’ willingness to modernise Greece
their public sector service delivery UK
capabilities. USA
Czech Republic
Changing demographics Indonesia
Governments in many countries, especially Russia
developed ones, need to respond to the India
impact of changing demographic trends – Years 55 60 65 70 75 80 85
in particular the rise in ageing populations PricewaterhouseCoopers3
2 The United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread
of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015.
3 PricewaterhouseCoopers – ‘Key trends in Human Capital: A global perspective’, 2006.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 1102 The burning platform
Drivers for change
associated with caring and providing
In a nutshell
for old-age dependency groups.
A number of common challenges requires
Higher life expectancy in existing the public sector to re-assess its role in
mature economies is a reward for public service delivery. They are:
economic success but, equally,
a threat to the future sustainability • Changing demographic profiles and
of that success. increasing customer expectations of
the public sector
As we explain in the next section, • Citizens and users of public services
fundamental to the public sector’s are now more aware of their rights
and – with the heightened media and
response to these change drivers
social activism – demanding greater
will be an evaluation of its roles as a accountability and transparency
‘policy maker’, a ‘regulator’ and a
‘provider’ of public service. • Already under pressure to deliver, the
public sector is also facing budgetary
Greater clarity over each of these
constraints, with higher taxes often no
roles would help to pave the way to longer an option
organisational transformation and
changes to core business processes. • Externally, there is global competition
among various economies – developed
It would also result in the development and developing – to attract investment
of service delivery approaches and and this is compounded by the public
models that forge partnerships with the sector reform agenda being prioritised
private and the voluntary sectors, by most governments
drawing on their complementary
capabilities and cultures.
12 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers02 PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 13
03 Getting it right
Understand your customer: ‘Customer
is king’ in the public sector too
‘The Government will only come to full fruition through major
organisational change in administration, and by equipping civil
servants with the right skills. This is a long road; it will take time,
it will take persistence, and on this road there is a very important
signpost. It reads: eGovernment is not about technology, it is
about people; it is about putting the citizen in the centre.’
Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information, Society and Media, European Commission
Speech given at Ministerial eGovernment Conference 200503
Customer focus is often challenged by public sector
cultures, hierarchical organisational structures and differing
agency priorities. Overcoming these challenges means
aligning agency priorities to customer requirements to deliver
a customer-centric strategy.
Private sector organisations seek to The public sector is increasingly
differentiate themselves by providing their expected to run itself effectively, Customer is king
customers with unique and personalised efficiently and in a customer-centric Six key elements of a
experiences. More than ever before, ‘the manner, importing key private sector customer-centric strategy
customer is king’ and the same dictum concepts where appropriate – and this
applies to public sector organisations as means aligning every action/strategy
Using customer insight to
they seek to provide enhanced services towards a meaningful customer
in return for taxpayers’ ‘investments’. experience. While the customer must sit
1 inform effective customer
segmentation
at the centre of service-delivery strategy,
Our experience shows that public sector the preferred implementation approach
organisations are rising to the challenge needs to take into account the ways in
of offering each citizen a better customer which public sector organisations are
Creating multiple delivery
experience. For example, some countries structured. In particular, hierarchical, 2 channels
have adopted a ‘customer champions’ ‘siloed’ structures can present a major
approach, while others undertake challenge to the delivery of customer-
specific customer satisfaction surveys to centric services across all agencies
assess the performance of their public within an organisation.
sector organisations. However, they Aligning service delivery to
often face some significant additional To become truly customer-centric, public 3 customer journeys
challenges – notably their scale, which sector organisations need first and
means that customer ‘journeys’ interface foremost to gear their cultures towards
with various agencies, as well as the serving the customer. That means aligning
need to deal with people as individuals agency and customer priorities. It means
possessing unique attributes, degrees of understanding the complexity of different
need, different channel preferences and customer groups and providing them
4 Setting service standards
complex living environments. with a choice of channels and interfaces
via a demand-driven model – the more
Although these pressures have always customers that there are, the more
been a fact of life for public sector channels they tend to use according to
Creating and empowering
organisations, they have increased the level of support and guidance they 5 customer champions
significantly in recent years. As a result, need. It means addressing agency silos so
one-size-fits-all models for service that customers can be served effectively
delivery are being phased out and new through a single point of contact. And
models introduced. it means using truly customer-centric
metrics to motivate staff. Continuous improvement
6 through customer feedback
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 1503 Getting it right
Understand your customer: ‘Customer is king’ in the public sector too
Based on our experience of helping mechanisms in place for the handling
The Google philosophy: Focus on the
user and all else will follow public sector organisations across the and escalation of problems as they
world to move towards best practice, we are identified.
From its inception, Google has focused believe that a customer-centric strategy
on providing the best user experience should incorporate the six elements In the public sector, in contrast to
possible. While many companies claim identified on the previous page.
to put their customers first, few are the private sector, it is crucial to
able to resist the temptation to make understand the nature of the policy
small sacrifices to increase shareholder 1 Using customer insight outcomes required – as well as the
value. Google has steadfastly refused to customer outcomes. Unlike the
make any change that does not offer a
to inform effective customer
segmentation private sector, where the organisation
benefit to the users. By always placing
the interests of the user first, Google has is at liberty to define its customer
One of the common qualities of segments, the public sector is required
built the most loyal audience on the web.
And that growth has come not through successful private-sector organisations to service numerous diversified
TV ad campaigns, but through word of is that they understand their customers. customer segments. It is therefore
mouth from one satisfied user to another. In order to serve them as effectively essential to develop clear policies to
Google Website: Corporate Information
as possible, they segment their meet the needs of each segment.
customer-bases according to various
factors including demographic profile,
The needs of these various segments
age and economic status. This
can be quite distinct and will be
segmentation helps them to provide
driven by multiple factors, including
more personalised services. This is
demographic attributes such as age,
driven, to a large extent, by the fact that
education, income and more attitudinal
these organisations share a common
factors such as beliefs, values and
objective – delivering profit to their
willingness/ability to engage with
shareholders. Satisfied customers are
government. Understanding them
cheaper to serve, easier to deal with
all is critical to the development and
and more likely to keep coming back.
implementation of a customer-centric
Unfortunately, the public sector does
service delivery strategy. Another
not always have a common unifying
challenge the public sector faces is
objective – instead, a number of
that, unlike the private sector, where
different objectives will tend to exist at
customers are treated differently
intra-agency levels.
according to their capacity to pay
for services, the public sector is
Another important aspect of effective required to satisfy the rights of its
service delivery is to understand the entire customer base – equally and to
needs of citizens where the rectification acceptable standards. There needs
and/or understanding of their problems to be a clear strategy for ensuring the
is concerned. There should be inclusion of all the segments of society
16 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers03
that must be served. This subject is multiple delivery channels. Each of these
Putting the customer upfront –
highly topical. For example, in the will vary significantly, depending on Department for Constitutional Affairs, UK
UK, the Disability Rights Commission the nature of the public service that is
(DRC) recently put organisations from being provided – whether transactional One example of customer-centric public
across the public sector on notice after (passport services, utilities or land sector strategy is the initiative of the UK’s
publishing the names of more than 60 records, for example), or closer to the Department for Constitutional Affairs
(DCA), responsible in government for
public authorities which had failed to services provided in health, education upholding justice, rights and democracy.
produce a disability equality scheme. and law enforcement. The government and public sector
team from PricewaterhouseCoopers
2 Creating multiple delivery 3 Aligning service delivery with supported the DCA Director of Strategy
in developing a consumer strategy for
channels customer journey (needs) four areas of the civil justice system. The
Customer-centric organisations that approach involved working with 3,500
Communication between an organisation court files, undertaking 40 focus groups
and its customers has always been the are considered to be highly responsive
involving 300 members of the public
foundation of good customer service. gain the trust and loyalty of their and conducting personal interviews
But today, customers expect customer customers. Other considerations with140 members of the public and legal
typically include: profession. In addition, a consumer
service to be accessible anytime,
experience survey was carried out among
anyplace – and by whatever means of • Organising delivery units around 2,016 members of the public. Outcomes
communication they prefer. Developing customer segments of this work included publication of a
a real understanding of what customers preliminary report on proposals for a new
want from the public sector creates • Designing the service delivery process law covering relationship breakdown,
from the customers’ point of view, and a consultation paper on debt.
an opportunity for providing services
Based upon feedback received, the DCA
through channels that will best respond and using ‘co-creation’ (a new form stated in its five-year strategy document
to their needs. Channels are a means of value creation where value is published in December 2004, that ‘we
for public sector organisations to deliver co-created by the organisation and have for the first time talked directly to
services to citizens and for citizens to the customer). Examples of how this users and potential users of our services
is achieved are through responding to find out what they think’.
access government through a variety of
communication and delivery methods (for to customer feedback and the Government and Public Secor - Customer-
example, post, telephone, face-to-face, involvement of customer segments centric public services
online, mobile, digital television, fax and in the development of services to
kiosks). The delivery of services may be achieve customer-centric outcomes
either directly through government or
indirectly through intermediaries, such
• Incorporating technology into the
service delivery process
as voluntary organisations. In designing
a channel strategy, care should be • Differentiating service to customers
taken not to force customers in any based on their needs and preferences
one direction. Because of the diversity
of their customer base, public sector
organisations need to focus on creating
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 1703 Getting it right
Understand your customer: ‘Customer is king’ in the public sector too
Setting and measuring • Charging cross-functional teams – (financial and non-financial
service standards – Canada with finding innovative ‘connected’ metrics used to quantify objectives
solutions to customer problems that reflect the strategic performance
There are two predominant methods
of an organisation).
used by the Governments of Ontario • Offering a service guarantee with set
and Alberta in Canada for setting and and clear performance standards To this end, it is important to
measuring service standards.
establish service levels appropriate to
The first approach to setting and
• Creating contingency plans for
each customer and his/her request.
measuring service standards focuses possible failure points
For certain routine requests, many
on the operational aspects of service
delivery. This is the approach used • Deploying technologies to route customers prefer an automatic, but
by the Government of Ontario where callers to the most appropriate easy-to-obtain and accurate response,
standards exist for everything from the service whereas the same customer faced with
maximum number of times a telephone complex transactions demands a more
should ring before a call is answered to • Understanding customers’ personal, relationship-based approach.
the length of time a client should wait in expectations of the experience for
line at a service counter. This method
Organisations which are adept at
each contact channel. balancing service levels for a variety of
uses the public‘s service expectations
as measured in ‘Citizen’s First’ to both customers study information requests,
establish and meet performance targets. 4 Setting service standards notify frequently-recurring requests
The second method uses the measure and analyse the degree of personal
Greater customer awareness has
of client satisfaction to determine how response required for each category
resulted in a demand for more
successful the organisation is at meeting of request. They also track customer
the needs of its clients. The Service
accountability and transparency,
outcomes and feed these back into
Alberta model, for example, sets service forcing public sector organisations
the system.
standards for each of the main drivers of to respond in a positive manner.
service satisfaction, namely timeliness, One of the ways in which this can
courtesy, knowledge, fairness and 5 Creating and empowering
be achieved is through the passing
outcome. From there, the percentage of customer champions
citizens who express satisfaction with
of legislation setting out the customer’s
each of these drivers is measured, and right to information and service For most organisations, the
the overall level of success is calculated. standards that are mandated by law. strengthening of customer relationships
(A Policy Framework for Service Improvement in the This provides positive evidence of is a key challenge. By creating and
Government of Canada Service and Innovation Sector, the public sector’s desire to place empowering ‘customer champions’,
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat June 2000)
its customers in a central position. organisations can address this
Setting, measuring and enforcing challenge in two key ways: firstly, at a
customer-centric service standards for strategic level, by the establishment
public services and agencies enables of a high-profile customer champion
the evaluation of the public sector leadership role that focuses on
on customer metrics which have not the customer, and secondly, at the
hitherto formed part of public sector level of the front-line interface with
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) the customer. This approach is
18 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers03
being followed in some government A common view of the public sector
is that it is predominantly internally Monitoring and benchmarking the
departments where officers act as a first
Dutch building (and housing) inspection
point of contact for telephone enquiries, focused, with front-line personnel departments’ service delivery
requests, and complaints, helping to tending to reinforce this perception
deliver courteous and efficient service, through their customer interactions. The Dutch building (and housing)
providing comprehensive information inspection departments monitor and
Accordingly, the quality of customer- benchmark customer satisfaction levels
and advice, and referring more complex
facing staff is critical. These are for the services provided.
enquiries to the relevant departments.
the front-line customer champions
For every customer at each stage of the
Having a specific and senior – the people who will foster a positive
process the customer satisfaction is
appointment whose job it is to take a customer experience by thinking widely monitored by survery using an internet
holistic view of the customer (as well about each customer’s needs. application with the results scored along
as the intermediaries through which It is therefore essential that they should two axes - customer satisfaction and
services often reach the customer), understand the importance customer value. In terms of delivering
of their role, as well as being the ‘customer promise’ it is crucial the
helps to ensure that the customer’s service delivers customer satisfaction
perspective is represented when provided with excellent customer-
for those aspects customers value the
key decisions are made and policies orientation skills.
most. The internet application is an
developed. Naturally, the appointment efficient and client orientated tool which
of this customer champion leadership
6 Continuous improvement makes it possible to continuously monitor
role needs to be accompanied through customer feedback service delivery. Analysis clearly shows
that customer satisfaction in the initial
by clearly defined management Customer feedback is a powerful tool, stages highly correlates with customer
responsibilities, as well as by the not only for understanding customers’ satisfaction and perceptions of overall
empowerment needed to make things experience and satisfaction with public value later on.
happen on the front-line. services, but also for developing Balancing their understanding of building
strategies to improve those services. regulations and customer priorities assist
In terms of what happens at the
Although under-utilised in the past, the building (and housing) inspection
customer interface, customer
feedback from both customers and departments identify service gaps and
preferences change over time and implement performance improvement.
front-line staff can help to ensure that
therefore many public sector workers
service improvement strategies focus
view their association with a customer
on those areas that will make the most
as a continually evolving relationship.
difference to customers. Canada’s
All points of customer contact
‘Citizens First’ initiative illustrates how
contribute to this relationship, whether
this can work in practice (see p21).
face-to-face, call centre, internet and
web- or paper-based correspondence.
Because each of these contacts
delivers information or services, it is
necessary to connect them so the
organisation can present a single face
to the customer.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 1903 Getting it right
Understand your customer: ‘Customer is king’ in the public sector too
Other ways of achieving improvement
Government of the Grand-Duchy Table 1: Does your organisation
through customer feedback include: provide customer-centric services?
of Luxembourg, Continuous
consultation process
• Distinguishing the organisation
1 Do you have clarity on your customers’
through compelling customer needs and preferences?
As a means of improving relationships
service and support
between stakeholders, tripartite
consultation can be particularly effective. 2 Is access to your organisation and
• Employing feedback and
information straightforward?
In Luxembourg, this process (bringing measurement systems to better
together employer, labour and public understand and serve customers
authority representatives) was developed 3 Is the customer dealing with numerous
in response to the country’s iron • Personalising the organisation-to- hand-offs and with too many
and steel crisis. There, the law of 24 agencies to solve the enquiry?
customer relationship
December 1977 institutionalised a
‘Tripartite Coordination Committee’, to • Proclaiming customer satisfaction as 4 Is the customer getting effective
be convened if the economic and social support from your organisation?
the organisation’s top priority
situation deteriorated. Over the years, a
number of sectoral tripartite agreements • Engaging all customers in the 5 Are those customers with specialist
were negotiated. The tripartite system
rapidly developed from an effective crisis
feedback process through effective needs getting the right support?
management tool into a consultation use of surveys
mechanism that systematically seeks 6 What are the first-time resolution rates?
consensual solutions to economic and • Augmenting customer feedback
social problems that do not necessarily with other pertinent measurements
7 Is your organistion leveraging efficiency
constitute a crisis. and analysis
to redeploy to front-line services?
This form of tripartite consultation is not
restricted to Luxembourg. In Ireland and
• Motivating employees to embrace
customer satisfaction and customer 8 Are the employees motivated and
the Netherlands, for instance, comparable equipped with the right tools for
models were set up during the 1980s. outcome responsibilities.
delivering an excellent service?
The questions listed alongside are
intended to provide a reality-check 9 Is your customer service function fit for
– helping public sector organisations to the future challenge?
understand how prepared they are to
provide the customer-centric services 10 Do you have the capability to track the
that their customers increasingly require. benefits of change?
20 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopers03
In a nutshell Canada’s ‘Citizens First’ initiative
• C
ustomer focus is often challenged
In April 1998, the President of the Treasury
by public sector culture, hierarchical
Board presented to Parliament the
organisational structures and differing
government’s new ‘outside-in’ citizen-
public sector priorities
centred approach to Government of
• A
gency priorities need to be aligned Canada service delivery. The Canadian
to customer requirements to deliver a Centre for Management Development’s
customer-centric strategy Citizen-Centred Service Network,
composed of 220 senior service
• K
ey elements of a customer-centric
delivery officials from the three orders
strategy include:
of government in Canada, produced the
1 Using customer insight to inform ‘Citizens First’ report. This documented
effective customer segmentation Canadians’ expectations of, satisfaction
with and priorities for service improvement.
2 Using multiple delivery channels Through ‘Citizens First’, Canadians
3 Aligning service delivery to indicated that they want:
customer life-cycle
a) Improved access to government
4 Setting service standards services; and
5 Creating and empowering b) Improved service delivery
customer champions performance.
6 Continuously improving through In the Autumn of 1998, they created
customer feedback the Assistant Deputy Minister Advisory
Committee on Service and Innovation
(ACSI) to help develop a citizen-centred
service strategy for the Government of
Canada that would respond to citizen
needs. Using research into good practices
in the public sector, the sub-committee
developed its approach to the continuous
improvement of Government of Canada
service quality. Currently, departments
and agencies have implemented client
surveys to measure client satisfaction
and much work has been undertaken
to develop service standards. The
Service Improvement Initiative facilitates
this work by establishing an overall
strategy for the Government of Canada,
including individual departmental Service
Improvement plans, to respond to citizen
priorities for improving service delivery.
(Government of Canada: A policy
framework for service improvement)
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 2104 Getting it right
Pull down the walls: Agency silos to
give way to connected government
‘Integrated and coordinated government is of fundamental importance
since it holds the key to unlocking effectiveness and efficiency in
service delivery. It has the potential to remove unnecessary duplication
and improve the use of scarce resources… it also contributes to better
communications in highly-complex organisations.’
Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Minister of Public Service and Administration (South Africa)04
Connected government is not just about ‘government restructuring’.
It also calls for the implementation of a common vision, supported
by integrated objectives, outcomes, information and process flows.
In May 2006, PricewaterhouseCoopers not necessarily sit comfortably with the
Figure 4:
and the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) collaboration and commitment which Department-centric vs Customer-centric
conducted a survey of 252 financial constitute the baseline for customer-
services executives4. When asked to centricity. Making the transition is no
Department-Centric Approach
identify key obstacles standing in the easy task. When seeking to break down
way of becoming more customer-centric, hierarchical structures, the emphasis
respondents pointed to lack of data- should be on how to make agency Customer
sharing across products, business units silos more networked, rather than
and customer channels due to various abandoning them altogether. This means
structural and technology challenges. addressing the silos which exist within Intermediaries
As a result, their customers were required individual public sector organisations
to resubmit the same information to the and the following section describes the
organisation on multiple occasions. importance of integrating public sector
agencies – that is to say, the concept
Department 5
Department 4
Department 3
Department 2
Department 1
This issue is no less of a concern in the of ‘connected government’. It further
Fragmented value
public sector. In a report commissioned provides a strategy that can be
by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, followed in order to realise connected
and published in December 2006, government, based on our experience
Sir David Varney highlighted the need of working with public sector organisations. Departmental Support
to transform customer service delivery Intermediaries
in government, saying, ‘it is often the Integrating public sector agencies:
most vulnerable citizens who have to ‘Connected government’
do the most joining-up between the
Figure 4 sets out what is involved in
TRANSFORMATION
public service islands and much of it
could be avoided with more collaborative integrating public sector agencies to
Customer-Centric Approach
service delivery’. This report makes deliver customer-centric services.
recommendations for strengthening Connected government means the
seamless integration, or joining up, of Customer
public service delivery in the UK,
including developing a Change of various agencies to provide services
Circumstances service over the next few which are aligned to the complete
years, starting with bereavement, birth customer journey – and not to the
and change of address. dictates of agency silos. It does not mean Interface
complete government restructuring. But Dept 1 Dept 5
Fragmented value
it does mean adopting an integrated
Many public sector organisations are
approach for information and process Dept 2 Dept 4
predominantly hierarchical in structure.
flow at the back end and front end to help Dept 3
This means that, to an extent, there can
enhance the effectiveness and efficiency
be a disproportionate focus on keeping
of service delivery.
control of resources and defending
individual ‘territories’. This approach does
Source: Adapted from PricewaterhouseCoopers
study for a G2B business portal in India
4 PricewaterhouseCoopers report: ‘Winning the battle for growth: Building the customer-centric financial institution’, 2006
PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivering on the customer promise 2304 Getting it right
Pull down the walls: Agency silos to give way to connected government
Key elements of A good example of this approach is the 1 Visible leadership at a
concept of Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs)5 strategic level
strategy for a connected The classic LTU monitors large taxpayers
government exclusively through registration, tax Embedded siloed structures sit
accounting, collections, auditing, and at the heart of many public sector
taxpayer service provision covering more organisations. This means that
than one type of tax. It allows multiple attempting to introduce integration in
public sector agencies to come together these organisations is a complex and
Visible leadership at a demanding exercise. If connected
1 strategic level
to service customers, blurring the agency
government initiatives are to
silos without affecting agency structures.
LTUs have facilitated major tax policy succeed, it is essential to have robust
reforms, such as adoption of VAT, as commitment to change at the highest
well as the reform of administrative organisational level. If they are to take
procedures, including implementation the appropriate decisions needed to
Common goals for a of self-assessment, modern auditing, guide their organisations through the
2 connected government electronic filing of tax statements, and the planned transformation, leaders must
– service standards fully understand what is meant by
functional organisation of work.
They have been established in different ‘eliminating agency silos – both internal
forms in around 50 countries worldwide. and external’. Committed top-level
leadership ensures clarity of goals. It
needs to be recognised that, because
In moving to connected government,
Focus on front end of it is necessary to first of all secure
3 public service delivery
the pace and order of change are both
the support and buy-in of various
key factors. The optimal route is to start
stakeholders, ‘reform by stealth’ is not
with understanding customer needs
an option when one is attempting to
– redesigning the front office to interact
make fundamental changes in customer
effectively with the customer and
service delivery.
realigning the back office to effectively
Breaking down deliver through the front office, before
4 intra-departmental silos attempting to address the integration of 2 Common goals for a connected
individual agencies. government – service standards
If a number of government agencies
Building connected government are to be involved in service delivery
in an integrated manner, the need
We believe that a successful connected
Enabling regulatory and for common service standards is
government strategy should be founded
5 legal framework on the following five elements:
paramount. Implementing and adhering
to specified service standards enables
5 The Challenges of Tax Reform in a Global Economy, Andrew Young School Annual Conference on Public Finance Issues,
2004 Georgia State University
24 Public Sector Research Centre PricewaterhouseCoopersYou can also read
