To meet the needs of constituents (“customers”), government entities would do well to ensure that they embody what I call the “10 A’s” in all audience-facing activities and projects:
- Any time
- Don’t limit the customer to interacting only during certain “business hours.”
- Any where
- Don’t limit the customer to interacting only at certain physical locations.
- Any device
- The customer should be able to interact with your organization using any device (desktop, laptop, mobile, tablet, etc).
- The user experience should be optimized for mobile and tablet devices (and released for mobile/tablets FIRST, if sequencing is necessary).
- Audience specific (…and FAST!)
- The customer does not care about (and is confused by) your internal organizational structures. Don’t make them need to know your org chart.
- Present information and resources in language/formats which make sense to the customer, and which is structured around the customer’s needs.
- Ensure “no wrong door” (no matter how the customer begins their interaction with your organization, they will end up at the right place /resource).
- Turnaround times for transactions and inquiries should be FAST!
- Audience engaged
- Dialogue: Have two way conversations with your audience, not just a one-way broadcast (monologue) of information. (Hint: Effectively leverage social media.)
- Share status, updates, wins, setbacks, reasons for decisions and setbacks.
- All with “one voice”
- Minimize conflicting messages delivered to the customer from various internal organizations.
- Be aware (when appropriate) of the customer’s history of interactions, and leverage to shape current and future interactions with the customer.
- Strive for a 360-degree customer view; Leverage CRM (customer relationship management) systems when appropriate / legal.
- Apparent
- Make transactions / interactions obvious and SIMPLE.
- (Simplicity is the art of maximizing the amount of work NOT done by the customer.)
- Agile
- Deliver the minimum viable product (MVP) quickly; then enhance and improve (leveraging customer feedback).
- “Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.”
- “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.”
- Alerts
- Allow push of (customer-selected) data to the customer’s preferred device/platform.
- Allow the customer to (easily) opt out when desired.
- Accessible and Open
- Be compatible with tools used by persons with disabilities.
- Provide multi-lingual resources.
- Data sets should be published and Open, to facilitate transparency, external use and innovation.
How is your entity working to become what I now call a “10A Organization?” What government entities have you seen which are good examples of (or are movingly effectively to become) a “10A” Organization?
