Data-Driven Insights: The building blocks for enhanced service quality

Technological advances are changing the daily interactions citizens have with public services. As more and more people engage with services online, increased expectations demand the enhancement of the citizen experience as well as modernising digital infrastructure and systems. Human-centric digital solutions create a more efficient, responsive, and satisfying interaction between citizens and government services.

This growth is already taking place in the public sector. For instance, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) links experience and digital modernisation as one and the same, defining digital government transformation as “using digital technologies and data to rethink the design and implementation processes of public services and policies in order to achieve more citizen-driven approaches.”

In April 2024, Total Politics Research (formerly Dods Research) teamed up with Granicus and surveyed more than 250 civil servants, exploring the use of self-service platforms for seamless digital experiences along with challenges in transforming digital services. A key takeaway from that published study stressed the importance of creating strategies that allowed for gathering relevant data and, more importantly, identifying the audiences that are most likely to provide data of the quality needed to generate actionable insights.

Community Interactions: The critical data for building initiatives

Data is an extremely valuable resource that, if used effectively, derives greater insights into user behaviour to improve services and deliver efficiency. Moreover, the use of data not only improves the delivery of digital services but also enhances citizen experience. However, for many organisations, the ability to use and share the most effective types of data from their audiences and for their services is easier said than done.

For organisations to most effectively leverage data to their advantage, they must have a focused strategy for collecting, using, and sharing data. The Granicus/Total Research paper found that organisations are collecting data in massive volumes as more and more users are accessing government services digitally. When used properly, organisations can mine that data to analyse customer behaviour, preferences, and needs to offer tailor-made services and enhance the digital experience. Data-driven strategies not only help organisations deliver reliable and high-quality services, but also improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Therefore, the most crucial interaction is the one that starts with the user being served. By understanding the needs of someone interacting with a digital service, these experiences can be more effective and expect more positive results and outcomes. The level to which organisations work to understand those needs before developing strategies, however, offers an opportunity for improvement, per the Granicus/Total Research survey.

Respondents were asked how well each organisation understands their audiences based on the application of user data. While 34% said they “use data to know a lot about the needs and aspirations of our communities,” the remaining 65% said they either only “occasionally ask questions from our communities to understand them better” (40%) or “assume we know enough about our communities and carry on regardless” (20%).

This lower prioritisation placed on customer experience driven data may be reflected in how organisations saw the maturity of their customer experiences. Amongst those civil servants surveyed, the paper’s research found that only 33% of civil servants deemed their organisation at an advanced stage of “Improving customer experiences,” while a similar proportion (35%) saw their organisation as “Quite good” or “Very good” (8%) at using the data collected from different customer interactions to improve services. While outpacing those who saw their work as “Quite poor” or “Very poor,” the data reflects the opportunity for government organisations to enhance the services currently delivered.

Along with increased focus on customer experience data, government organisations can bridge this gap by continuing a positive approach to technology investment, with a focus on standardising data collection and storage as well as joining up datasets within and across organisations and departments. Creating a unified and concerted focus on data’s role in an organisation and building a conducive pipeline for the sharing of data collected allows for the growth of initiatives that can increase efficiency and enhance collaboration and transparency in government along with improving the citizen experience.

Data sharing helps build personalised service delivery

Research conducted by the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) suggested that government departments face challenges finding and accessing relevant data and understanding which data can and cannot be shared. The organisation’s 2025 transformation roadmap reflects the importance of developing better strategies and policies around these issues.

The roadmap sets out ambitious plans for government to become more digitally efficient, enhancing digital skills, improving data, and ultimately providing better outcomes for citizens. The strategy outlines six cross- government missions it intends to deliver by 2025, including Mission Three: Better data to power decision making.

Key to addressing this challenge, CDDO has set out to create a Data Marketplace, acting as a central repository for all government to access and share data ethically and securely. This reflects a general idea that all organisations can grow from cross-government data sharing, helping broaden the understanding of customer requirements and enhancing the overall customer experience.

However, the Total Politics/Granicus study found that, despite government prioritising data sharing and personalising digital services, less than a quarter (24%) of civil servants saw their organisation as “Quite effective” or “Very effective” at sharing data with other government bodies and organisations when delivering personalised services. This is lower than the proportion that claim the current service is “Not very effective” or “Not at all effective.”

While data sharing enables government to obtain a more holistic view of citizen needs, behaviours, and preferences to enable the delivery of more relevant public services, the study’s results showed there is clearly room for improvement in this area, and continued focus on data sharing across government organisations and departments can ultimately help improve the services and digital experiences for citizens.

With only 27% of civil servants saying their organisation is “Tailoring services to specific citizen needs,” the results of the study suggest that while organisations are heading in the right direction, the pace of implementation needs to be accelerated. This, combined with the lack of understanding of communities, highlights the fact that services are being built without taking user needs into account and therefore it is impossible to meet citizen experience expectations. Working with partners to address these challenges is an opportunity that can help accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions.

Learn more about how the combined power of data, user-centric design, and collaboration are changing the way digital government impacts citizen’s daily lives in “Transforming Public Services: Bridging User-Centric Design, Data, and Digital Collaboration.”