6 Smart Tips to Enhance Customer Service at Government Departments

Effective provision of government services is an important part of lifestyle for residents and expatriates alike. People have to constantly interact with various government agencies for several needs. The most common concerns customers often have regarding service includes processing time, long wait times, redundant activities and wastage. Government departments must find ways to streamline their services to improve the overall experience for customers.

Some of the way through which this can be done are as follow:

Use of Technology

The use of technology and an integrated information system can greatly enhance the effectiveness of government services and improve customer experience. If government departments invest in purchasing an information system that is tailored to their needs, it can help them streamline the service offerings.

The presence of an integrated system will also help improve communication and tracking. Customers will be able to effectively voice their concerns and track the progress being made on their applications or requests. For example, customers will be able to track the progress being made on their ID application, which can be accessed online. Customers will exactly be able to see the stage of processing their application is going though. Moreover, any changes or correction can also be made to the application without having to visit the office or starting the application all over again.

Technology can help various government agencies with Data Management. This is an important aspect of providing better customer service, because government departments generate large amounts of data on a daily basis. All this information needs to be organized and managed to efficiently deliver services.

Integration and Information Sharing Among Different Departments

The use of information system technology will provide a fully integrated database, which can be shared among all relevant government departments. This would eliminate the need to collect all the vital information over and over again, hence it would help save time and effort for the government departments’ employees and customers.

If information regarding residents is available across various departments, it would make the inter-departmental communication efficient and seamless, since database sharing would allow access to other departments, which means information can be pulled if security clearance is available. A decentralized approach to customer service through sharing resources across various departments, would not only lead to efficient processing, but will save costs in the long run too.

Customer Service Training

Training the customer service staff is a prerequisite for the effective delivery of services. Different kinds of training programs can be conducted for the staff which address various needs in order to enhance efficiency and improve service delivery. The training can be outsourced to expert trainers who can conduct workshops and sessions for the staff.

Paperless Transactions

Government departments should adopt a paperless format for all applications and requests. A well-integrated system and database will help reduce or completely eliminate the paper application. Paperless transactions will help expedite the processing as communication and transfer of various documents will be easier and more convenient. Digital documentation will also help with sharing of vital information with other departments and speedup the entire process, since documents no longer have to be posted or physically sent to the concerned departments.

Smart Apps

With the rising popularity of smartphones, government departments should use this opportunity to extend their services to customers through smart apps and other online avenues. Smart apps will also help government departments to ease the process of authentication and communication directly with the concerned personnel. Moreover, smart apps will help deliver services to customers at the touch of a button, which means customers might not have to visit the offices and wait in a queue for their turn. Many agencies already have official smart apps which facilitate the application process for various government services.

Electronic Delivery & Courier Tracking

All government departments should ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in the delivery of the requested documents. Electronic delivery is an efficient delivery method, since there is no postage involved hence the requested documents are delivered right away. Even if documents are being sent through post, tracking on courier should be enabled so that customers can exactly determine the location of their package.