Podcasts

Critical Update: COVID-19 Challenges Test Veterans Affairs' Customer Experience Office

The Veteran Experience Office has been instrumental in ensuring veterans’ voices are heard and acknowledged, even amid a global pandemic.

Modernization

HUD Officially Moves to Next Phase of Centers of Excellence Program

After 20 months of analysis under Phase I, Housing and Urban Development announced the first two awards to begin improving the agency’s cloud adoption and customer experience.

Ideas

‘Gov Clouds’ During COVID-19: The End of the Digital Fortress Era 

Simply put, many U.S. government agencies are running on less reliable, less feature-rich, fortressed versions of commercial clouds.

Ideas

Chatbots: The New Government Official in the Fight Against Coronavirus

Even though there’s a deluge of questions from thousands of people, many of these questions are the same.

Digital Government

Social Security Administration Seeks to Solicit More Feedback from Customers

The agency is following White House guidance to improve customer service delivery, beginning with getting more input from actual customers.

Modernization

Lawmaker Wants Hard Details on Agencies’ Plans to Upgrade Legacy IT

Sen. Maggie Hassan gave 10 agencies until August 3 to answer six questions about their modernization plans—or lack thereof.

Ideas

COVID-19 Has Exposed the Need to Invest in Digital Infrastructure

Even before the increased demand caused by COVID-19, much of our digital infrastructure was so poorly designed as to be hostile to users.

Emerging Tech

TSA Wants Passenger Self-Screening that Looks Like Grocery Store Self-Checkout

The agency, in partnership with the Science and Technology Directorate, is planning a solicitation to streamline airport security without compromising safety.

Digital Government

Veterans Affairs' Focus on Experience Sees Increase in Veteran Trust

Trust among veterans has increased 5% in VA health care services since the department began measuring real-time feedback in 2017.

Modernization

GSA Suggests Using ‘Secret Shoppers’ to Evaluate Call Centers

The contact center within GSA’s Centers of Excellence offered a template for using mystery shoppers to measure performance.

Ideas

Improving Customer Experience in the Wake of COVID-19

During a crisis when it is most important to provide an experience that gives customers confidence in their government. 

Ideas

3 Ways Technology Meets Empathy to Solve Overwhelmed Agency Phone Lines

Conversational technology can be an excellent way to deflect repetitive questions to AI that can act like a live FAQ around constantly changing information.

Digital Government

SBA Awards $5.5M Contract to Improve Response to Disasters

As the Small Business Administration responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s also implementing what it learned during its response to the 2017 hurricane season.

Modernization

Labor Wants Feedback on Checklist for Modernizing State Unemployment Systems

The federal agency seeks input on the mandatory guidance it released to help states prevent service disruptions as they update their technology. 

Modernization

Accenture Federal Wins $96M Task Order to Modernize and Automate VA Services

Through human-centered design, federal employees and other users will weigh in on what works, along the way.

Artificial Intelligence

NGA Knows Its Challenges, Now It Needs the Tech to Address Them

The world is changing—from commercially available GEOINT to COVID-19—so the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency released a list of tech challenges the agency needs help to overcome.

Modernization

GSA Develops Human-Centered Design Buying Guide for Agencies

The buying guide assistance to federal agencies looking to improve their customer experience operations.

Ideas

What Federal IT Modernization Leaders Do Best

Modernization is not about just finding solutions that are more cost-efficient and more secure.

Artificial Intelligence

Critical Update: How the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Plans to Run ‘Better, Cheaper, Faster’ Tech

Chief Information Officer Jamie Holcombe and his team are stabilizing and modernizing IT to help meet growing demands in a changing marketplace.