Management

Better Digital Services Make for Happier Citizens

Digital government and innovation are closely linked to improved customer experience.

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Ryan Petersen has worked in publishing for more than two decades, most of it spent creating award-winning content and strategy for CDW’s family of tech magazine brands. As editor-in-chief, he works with his team to develop compelling and useful industry-focused stories to share with the technology world. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys spending time with his children, traveling, online gaming, and following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

On the list of top 10 2020 priorities for state CIOs identified by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, officials rank digital government as well as innovation and transformation through technology as pressing concerns.

Both priorities point to reinvention as key to bolstering government effectiveness. Through digital government, agencies are able to improve the citizen experience and promote government transparency. For the active, modern citizen, the ability to access government services via mobile devices has become a necessity.

Local IT leaders spend a lot of time working to make such goals a reality, like New York City CTO John Paul Farmer, who says more people will trust government with increased access to online citizen services. As Farmer told a smart cities conference last fall, “The trust that people put in their government has to be backed up by action. It has to be backed up by what we deliver to them.”

Undertake Modernization to Make the Biggest Impact

Not long ago, CDW polled state and local government officials on their drivers for harnessing digital transformation. Seventy-three percent said improving operational efficiencies represents the biggest opportunity to improve customer experience.

Officials might see the most dramatic customer experience improvements at the local offices of state departments of motor vehicles. Many state DMVs have embraced modernization in recent years, transforming their enterprises through the cloud.

For example, the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles recently set out to modernize its vehicle registration and titling system. The Nebraska DMV registers more than 2.5 million vehicles per year, resulting in roughly $720 million in revenue annually.

The new system went live in October 2019, enabling users to order specialty license plates online and allowing organizations using fleet services to complete registrations through the system.

The result is a more effective government and a more agreeable citizen experience, handily addressing NASCIO’s concerns around innovation and transformation and digital government.

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