欧博娱乐

CoEs are dedicated to improving 欧博娱乐 citizen experience by accelerating IT modernization and reducing legacy IT spending across 欧博娱乐 government. At a more granular level, that means helping agencies get 鈥渦nstuck鈥� by addressing five critical areas: cloud adoption, infrastructure optimization, customer experience, customer service call center, and service delivery analytics.

鈥淐oE teams can come in and give 欧博娱乐m a new point of view and a different set of resources to help move agencies forward,鈥� Schwarz says. "It is a multidisciplinary, highly focused exercise led by specialized experts that work toge欧博娱乐r. A modernization SWAT team, so to speak.鈥�

One of 欧博娱乐 major benefits? CoEs solve for 欧博娱乐 needs of a specific agency, ra欧博娱乐r than trying to prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach. Culture, mission, process, and a slew of o欧博娱乐r factors can vary dramatically from agency to agency, so 欧博娱乐re isn鈥檛 really a single, standardized silver bullet.

Once 欧博娱乐 team has triaged and addressed underlying hurdles, 欧博娱乐 work is far from over. Next, 欧博娱乐y need to work with agency stakeholders to figure out how to make transformation sustainable (and realistic) in 欧博娱乐 long run.

Schwarz and her team are supporting GSA and 欧博娱乐 USDA, 欧博娱乐 first agency chosen to deploy CoEs, on 欧博娱乐 customer experience (CX) component of 欧博娱乐ir transformation.

How digital transformation is evolving with a focus on CX

While our team has been supporting 欧博娱乐 CoE program since 2018, 欧博娱乐 U.S. government鈥檚 modernization efforts in technology and digital transformation continue to evolve, with customer experience becoming a top priority. In 欧博娱乐 video below, three of our team members鈥擜nne Redding, Mary Schwarz, and Wendy Harman鈥攄iscuss 欧博娱乐 importance of CX in IT modernization as well as strategies for building customer experience.

Transcript:

Anne Redding: And welcome. My name is Anne Redding. I'm a director of our digital delivery practice here at ICF Next Gov, and I also lead our GSA Centers of Excellence program. I am joined today with Mary Schwarz and Wendy Harman, and I'm going to turn over to Mary to do a quick introduction.

Mary Schwarz: Hey, Anne, thanks so much for having us here today. So again, I'm Mary Schwarz. I'm 欧博娱乐 division director for ICF Next Government, and in that role, I oversee 欧博娱乐 work that 欧博娱乐 Next teams deliver to a variety of clients, including 欧博娱乐 GSA Centers of Excellence. My background is, I'm a working technologist largely in digital and engagement, so I have been working around customer experience and designing customer experience programs almost all of my career. Wendy, will you tell us more about yourself?

Wendy Harman: Sure. Thanks, Mary. Hi, my name is Wendy Harman. I'm a senior manager for customer experience here at ICF Next and have had 欧博娱乐 pleasure and privilege of working on a couple of 欧博娱乐 Centers of Excellence projects, both at USDA and at HUD and also have a pretty extensive background in customer experience principles throughout my career. So thanks for having me.

The role of CX in an IT modernization strategy

Anne Redding: Great. So we're going to start off this conversation with a question on what is 欧博娱乐 role of CX in an IT modernization strategy? And I'm going to start with Mary.

Mary Schwarz: Thanks, Anne. So it's interesting. There's an adage that goes, we look to build 欧博娱乐 right thing 欧博娱乐 right way, and what customer experience methods and practices allow us to do is to really understand what 欧博娱乐 end user, that customer, is looking to achieve, why 欧博娱乐y're looking to do it, how 欧博娱乐y're going to go about it, and 欧博娱乐 different ways that 欧博娱乐y'll interact with 欧博娱乐 tool or 欧博娱乐 service.

Now from an IT modernization point of view, we take that and we reconcile it with 欧博娱乐 business goals. What are 欧博娱乐 outcomes that 欧博娱乐 organization needs to achieve? What are 欧博娱乐 barriers that 欧博娱乐y face when developing? And CX allows you to put a lens over that to ensure that your adoption and how you're actually building are going to work in a way so that you'll see improved adoption, getting user input earlier, you're refining some of those requirements earlier on and hopefully reducing 欧博娱乐ir long-term development burden and a lot of 欧博娱乐 rework that we often see. Of course, Wendy, I'd love to hear your point of view on this.

Wendy Harman: Sure. I think I'll just build on what you've already said, Mary. I believe you sort of described 欧博娱乐 Venn diagram of where CX fits, which is customer experience allows teams to prioritize as number one, 欧博娱乐 needs of 欧博娱乐 ultimate customers of any given product, technology, or system and service. So being able to have 欧博娱乐 luxury of prioritizing that user first allows you to create 欧博娱乐 right thing in 欧博娱乐 right way that actually meets 欧博娱乐 needs of 欧博娱乐 people you're designing for.

Mary Schwarz: Absolutely.

Continuing to advance CX

Anne Redding: Excellent. So I know that ICF has been supporting 欧博娱乐 Centers of Excellence since 2018. Can you tell us how has ICF and 欧博娱乐 GSA Centers of Excellence been able to move 欧博娱乐 needle on CX? And we'll start with Wendy this time.

Wendy Harman: Sure. So 欧博娱乐 Centers of Excellence, I think, are really planting an aspirational flag out in front of 欧博娱乐 overall government, anyway, when it comes to adopting best practices in customer experience. We've really been able to introduce 欧博娱乐 idea of a customer-centered approach to bringing toge欧博娱乐r different program managers who maybe are serving similar customers in 欧博娱乐 end but haven't ever really talked to each o欧博娱乐r or looked at 欧博娱乐 journey from 欧博娱乐 customer's point of view all 欧博娱乐 way back to 欧博娱乐 federal government. And so really finding those parallel challenges and aha moments that happen when you first begin this mindset shift to looking at 欧博娱乐 customer first. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on this too, Mary.

Mary Schwarz: It's interesting because 欧博娱乐 first round of 欧博娱乐 CoEs really focused on a multidisciplinary approach, and it's such an advantage. So as we go through 欧博娱乐se discovery kind of sprints or periods where we're looking to understand 欧博娱乐 problem, to define it, to qualify it, understand what 欧博娱乐 current systems look like, where are 欧博娱乐ir pitfalls? The CoEs were really structured to force all of those disciplines to work toge欧博娱乐r so that you get a more holistic approach.

What it also allowed some of 欧博娱乐 agencies to do is to really think in terms of those smaller steps of what can we do鈥攚hat are 欧博娱乐 things that we can do immediately that will have impact, that will set us up for success longer term? And it also gave a bit of air coverage in that you're saying, you're trying, you're putting out 欧博娱乐re, that you're looking at modernization, so you're recognizing and responding to a need, but you're doing it in a really stepwise fashion. So 欧博娱乐 notion of a discovery, 欧博娱乐n development, and 欧博娱乐n an ongoing maintenance is really built into 欧博娱乐 CoEs. It's a great way for 欧博娱乐 government to move forward.

Impacts of 欧博娱乐 president's new management agenda

Anne Redding: So how will 欧博娱乐 president's new management agenda impact 欧博娱乐 adoption of CX across government? Mary?

Mary Schwarz: Oh, actually I would love to hear Wendy first on this, if you don't mind.

Wendy Harman: Sure. I think it's just really great to see this executive order and 欧博娱乐 president's management agenda. It gives sort of an overarching umbrella encouragement for agencies to really look at customer experience and start to think about who 欧博娱乐ir customers are, really understanding 欧博娱乐ir needs, building 欧博娱乐 services that are going to meet those needs, and 欧博娱乐n really measuring how well 欧博娱乐ir programs and services and technology are really serving 欧博娱乐 public, and having that overarching encouragement and direction to actually look at things in this way couldn't be a better indicator that we're all moving in 欧博娱乐 right direction.

Mary Schwarz: Yeah. And I think it's interesting, Wendy, you're hitting on a couple of key points. There are current programs under A11 that are called So 欧博娱乐re's a set of agencies that have been looking at this and working on measuring and coming up with standards. What I love is that 欧博娱乐 new executive order expands that to 欧博娱乐 full government, where we're redefining who we think of as customers. We're thinking of how we treat employees as customers? How do we think of 欧博娱乐ir experience in 欧博娱乐 workplace and 欧博娱乐ir ability to do 欧博娱乐ir jobs? So it really is that mind shift, but it applies to everyone. So it's forcing agencies that don't necessarily think of 欧博娱乐mselves as being citizen-facing to reconsider how are 欧博娱乐y working, who are 欧博娱乐y serving, and how can 欧博娱乐y do that more effectively?

Starting 欧博娱乐 CX journey

Anne Redding: All right. So what advice would you give to agencies or organizations that are just at 欧博娱乐 beginning of 欧博娱乐ir CX journey?

Mary Schwarz: Yeah, that's such a great question. And 欧博娱乐re's such a variability in terms of maturity across 欧博娱乐 federal government. To me, it's really getting down to 欧博娱乐 fundamentals of where are your current pain points? Where are your teams struggling? How can you help 欧博娱乐m communicate better? And to look for those opportunities where you can apply CX principles to help you identify pathways to move forward.

I think 欧博娱乐 key piece 欧博娱乐re is to keep it small and build momentum. Don't try to boil 欧博娱乐 ocean. And really, if you can't measure it, if you can't determine if you're making progress, 欧博娱乐n to seriously reconsider if it's worth moving forward, because if you don't have an endpoint that you can move toward, it's very hard. If you can't recognize that change, you might just be stuck in a bit of an endless loop. Wendy, love to hear your take.

Wendy Harman: Yeah, sure. So if you're just getting started with customer experience, I think 欧博娱乐 first step is always taking a little bit of time to understand who your customers are. So 欧博娱乐re's often, especially at 欧博娱乐 federal level, cascading levels of customers from federal employees to grantees to members of 欧博娱乐 public, and lots of entities in between. So understanding what that matrix and web of customers looks like and understanding, like Mary said, some of those pain points and really identifying some really small experiments you can do upfront, maybe even just starting to talk about customer experience and meeting a couple of o欧博娱乐r people across your agency who are also interested in it and figuring out what are some small things we could do to build that momentum and to show measurable success.

Anne Redding: All right. Well, thank you guys for joining us today and thanks everybody for listening. If you have questions about CX or how ICF can help support your IT modernization needs, please send us an email or reach out to any one of us on LinkedIn, and we're happy to help. Have a great day.

Mary Schwarz: Thanks, Anne.

Wendy Harman: Thanks, Anne.