Better customer service is the future for e-government

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Gerry McGovern

Gerry McGovern is widely regarded as a worldwide authority on managing web content as a business asset. He has spoken, written, and consulted extensively on web content management issues since 1994.

Better customer service is the future for e-government

What good is the Web if it can’t deliver for us a better life? And what is a better life? Well, more time would be a good start. If the Web could save us time doing things that would be great. If it could help us make better decisions, that would be great. If it could make us more aware of our rights, that would be great.

I hate it when the future of the Web becomes some monologue on some fancy technology innovations. Technology is a tool. What do we want to do with the tool? How can we use technology to serve people better? How can we make our countries more competitive?

There is one thing holding back e-government, and it has nothing to do with technology, and everything to do with service. There is a culture among many governments that is almost anti-service. Governments are infested with organization-centric thinking. Politicians seem to think that government websites are essentially PR platforms for their re-election. Civil servants can’t help but turning government websites into long, boring and totally unnecessary content dumps justifying why the department exists.

The future of e-government is service. Plain and simple service. The Web is at heart about self-service. We must be relentlessly focused on how to help our citizens and business people (customers) quickly and easily serve themselves on our websites.

So forget about the technology for the moment, and think of the web team. Is the web team focused on serving people? Or are they caught up with technology obsession and content shovelling? Maybe the web team gets it but maybe the culture in the department is so vain that managers see the website as a peacock's paradise?

I have seen the inside of e-government in Ireland, the UK, Canada, the United States, Australia, Holland, and New Zealand. Organisation-centric thinking is the great and universal disease that infects e-government globally. And it is recognised by a great number of web professionals. The countries that succeed will be those that will make the journey from organisation-centric to customer-centric.

That's what the Web is about: the power of the customer. The Web is the space where the customer feels in control. They go there to make quicker, more informed decisions. The Web is a product of an open society, and the future is about being even more open and accountable and customer-focused.

The future of e-government is about those who love to serve. Everything else is just stuff.