The upside of getting ticketed a few weeks ago for allowing my license tags to expire was that I got to experience first hand how efficient and customer-friendly the state of Maryland's Department of Motor Vehicles has become -- specifically, its e-commerce operation. Using a kiosk in the lobby, I got my temporary registration sticker on the spot, without waiting in line. I was out of there in five minutes -- a DMV encounter that almost made the US$300 plus ticket worthwhile. The last time my tags expired, some two years ago, I distinctly remember wasting a morning in DMV's office.
Customer Satisfaction on the Rise
As one of the administrators of the American Customer Satisfaction Index for e-government services, a quarterly study made in conjunction with the University of Michigan Business School, Foresee Results CEO Larry Freed is not surprised. He has found that customer satisfaction with government services provided online or through a Web site is on a definite upswing.
As recently as two years ago, some government Web sites obviously were updated on an ad hoc basis, serving as little more than agency brochures, he said. "Since then, we have been seeing a widespread adoption of customer satisfaction as a key metric for government agencies," he told CRMDaily.com.
Among the signs of improvement, the number of participants in the study jumped to 36 from 22. Also the overall scores of the Web sites have moved up. "This quarter we saw 14 percent of the Web sites with scores of 80 or higher, compared to 5 percent last quarter."
By way of comparison, in similar studies, Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) received a score of 88; Google , a score of 82; Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSK) 55; Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) , 74, and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) , 70. In other words, the government sector's e-commerce initiatives are going head to head with some of the best practices employed in the private sector.
Embryonic
These findings are all the more surprising given that e-government is still very embryonic, Aberdeen CRM vice president Denis Pombriant told CRMDaily. "From what I've seen, some of the systems are not well integrated with other planning operations, like emergency planning."
On the other hand, he added, there are scores of people who can attest to the greater ease of obtaining information. "The greatest effect of 'webinization' that we have seen in government is at the state level," he said. "There is a lot you can do now that you couldn't ten years ago."
Leading the Way
The highest-performing sites on the user satisfaction scale are MedlinePlus -- information sites operated by the National Institutes of Health -- and the Education Department's federal student aid site, both of which received scores of 86.
"These medical information sites are really helping show the way," said Freed. "They mimic the commercial sites in terms of experience, but they add a nonbureaucratic, customer-driven approach many would have not thought possible of the government."
In many ways though, these sites are more of an aberration that an indication of e-government progress.
"With all of the scams and spam and just plain made-up medical information swirling around the Internet, the reliability and credibility of government is very comforting to people," said Freed. "Strong sites organized how users want -- and not how bureaucrats or experts want -- plus the stamp of the government is a powerful formula."
Top Sites
Still, many government portal sites performed on par with private-sector portals, the ACSI suggests. FirstGov made a respectable showing, Freed noted, and improved over time through user feedback.
Other high ranking Web sites include the
Who Pays?
One question that must be raised concerns the future of these endeavors, given the crushing budget deficits that have developed in the last two years. This has become an issue for government agencies, Freed acknowledges, but instead of abandoning their online initiatives, they are squeezing out whatever dollars are available to them to continue.
"The government recognizes the importance of these initiatives -- both from a customer-satisfaction perspective and from an ROI (return on investment) one." In short, he said, government agencies have come to the same conclusion that most private sector firms have -- and that is that self-service is much cheaper than maintaining call centers and other human-contact assistance.
To be sure, unlike the private sector, the government cannot shift all assistance online, given the digital divide that still exists in the U.S. But the more people that do go online, the more resources they free up for other endeavors.
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