Survey: Improving Customer Experience Prioritized by 3 in 4 Government IT Leaders

Three in four IT practitioners across federal, state and local governments believe improving customer experience across the services they provide is a key priority, according to a survey released Monday by Texas-based Rackspace Technology.

The survey, which polled more than 1,400 IT decision-makers across the global public sector, financial services, manufacturing and health care sectors, further found 63% of public-sector respondents value internal employee experience.

The survey shines a light on how IT-focused employees view customer experience. Half of public-sector IT decision-makers said they respond to customer needs with new technologies, and 55% believe their brand—or department—benefits from customer service through technology. In addition, just fewer than half of respondents think their brands benefit from 24/7 service and increased security to customers, especially through increased use of applications.

“The results of our survey are further evidence that modernizing applications through a user lens is not just a ‘nice to have’ from a customer satisfaction perspective, but also delivers a wealth of tangible, quantifiable benefits to organizations,” Jeff DeVerter, chief technology officer of Rackspace Technology, said in a statement. “Applications are a foundation of customer experience, and it is encouraging to see an increased focus on and rising enthusiasm for customer experience improvements.”

The survey also makes clear that—in concert with the federal government’s increased focus on measuring customer experience—89% of public-sector IT decision-makers are measuring performance in customer experience. The most common measurement used among survey takers was the Customer Satisfaction Score, or CSAT, while 58% measured quality and operations, 48% measured employee engagement, and 33% measured analysis of customer complaints and customer effort scores.