Transforming Government Customer Service with New Technologies

The Executive Order directing federal agencies to improve customer experiences (CX) and service delivery, issued in December 2021, directs agencies that, “Government must be held accountable for designing and delivering services with a focus on the actual experience of the people whom it is meant to serve. Government must also work to deliver services more equitably and effectively, especially for those who have been historically underserved.”

Following up, in September 2023 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its memo, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience, which provides a robust policy framework for the next decade of digital modernization across government, and lays out a roadmap for delivering online information and services that meet Americans’ expectations.

The administration demonstrated its commitment to these goals with OMB’s fiscal year 2025 budget request. The primary focus of its IT funding request is to build a “digital-first” public experience, with emphasis on funding to deduplicate web content, modernize the front-end design of websites and digital services, and improve the accessibility of websites and digital services. The budget proposal makes it clear that AI is central to meeting the directive, characterizing it as presenting “tremendous promise to improve public services and increase the efficiency of… operations.”

Learning Objectives:

• Delineate the differences between generative AI, machine learning, and natural language understanding, and the role each can play in improving CX
• Identify ways to improve CX workers’ experiences, such as by shifting repetitious or mundane tasks to automated tools
• Outline metrics that can be used to measure improvements in both CX and worker satisfaction