There’s a lot of talk about how all businesses need to transform to become more market relevant and more efficient than the competition. A valuable tool in this drive for transformation is technology. Digital technology promises to transform both the supply chain and the demand chain – as well as processes for managing staff. However, an increasingly important reason for the drive towards digital is that customer expectations are becoming more acute – more attuned to slicker digital delivery.
Customers are also citizens. They occasionally (not always) have the need to consume government services. When they do, the experience is often not wonderful. It’s out of keeping with the type of experience provided by the commercial sector. While Amazon can provide Wi-Fi-connected buttons to allow their customers to order (and have delivered) goods with just one push, government seems sluggish and complicated, by comparison. It seems out of keeping with a digital-native population.
The difference, of course, is that what government does is complicated – and complicated in a way that commercial business isn’t.
