By Courtney Macavinta
When residents of the Rocky Mountain state log on to The Official Site of the State of Colorado, they find something most government agencies had never provided: someone waiting to answer their questions around the clock.
The Official Site of the State of Colorado offers a service, dubbed Live Help, to allow citizens to submit questions at any hour through a chat-enabled Web site. People can inquire about a wide range of topics -- from where to pay their parking tickets to how to get a building permit. Or they can use the site's AskColorado tool to get homework or research help from the state's more than 300 librarians. Within 30 seconds of submitting a question, either a Live Help staff member, a librarian, or a service representative will respond with an answer and will stay online until the issue is resolved. Already, The Official Site of the State of Colorado handles up to 5,000 queries per month in both Spanish and English.
"To have to conduct government business between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. when most people have to be at work is inconvenient," says Rich Olsen, general manager of The Official Site of the State of Colorado. "More and more citizens are expecting government to treat them like businesses treat them."
For citizens, logging on to a computer certainly beats standing in long lines at a government office with limited hours. So it is no wonder e-government services like Colorado's LiveHelp are in high demand.
Forrester Research reported in January that more than one-third of North Americans have visited federal, state, and local government Web sites. The most popular activities include: downloading or printing out a government form, getting motor-vehicle information or renewing a drivers' license, finding tourism information, looking up information about public hearings, and accessing real estate data.
In the past, government agencies might not have had enough incentive to offer top-notch online services. Now that's changing, however. From legislative mandates for certain agencies to increase online services, to the overall need to lower administrative costs, government is investing more in developing Web services. The issue government agencies are starting to discover, however, is that when their constituents go online, they expect the same quality of services that they find on commercial sites -- and even more so when it comes to issues like privacy protection.
"You need to treat citizens as customers -- you have to realize that this is a relationship, and you need to value that relationship," says Alan Webber, Forrester Research senior government analyst who wrote the January report, Citizen Activity on Government Web Sites. "Government can't toss up services on the Web the same way it might offline."
Public sector CIOs who work for government agencies need to keep in mind some best practices when expanding their Web services, Webber says. The key for CIOs is to guide governments toward a more commercial approach that not only includes product development, but service delivery and marketing efforts, as well. The essential elements to focus on are:
Customer satisfaction As with commercial sites, eGovernment sites need to understand their target market. "One of the biggest things you need to know when building a government site is to take customer satisfaction very seriously," Webber says. For example, site developers need to know an agency's demographic, such as how tech-savvy its market is or whether people have access to online computers. IT teams also should use scenarios during the design process to determine what people will want to accomplish on the site and how they will use it. Getting feedback is important. Webber suggests using surveys, focus groups, or open forums -- the same way a marketing firm would -- to improve e-government sites.
Privacy Many citizens don't necessarily trust the government with their personal information. Of those surveyed by Forrester, Webber says, most people said they didn't want the government sharing their information with private companies. He advises that eGovernment site builders need to pay close attention to incorporating strong privacy protection practices and policies.
Marketing eGovernment sites are not pursuing traditional ROI. But there is still a bottom line for moving constituents over to digital channels. The Internal Revenue Service was able to shut down costly walk-in centers partly due to the success of its online services. Cities, on the other hand, are moving toward kiosks so people can pay parking tickets or check roadwork schedules without having to wait in line. But the key to building these services, which can increase efficiencies and citizen satisfaction, is to educate the public. "To get ROI, you have to go out and market it," Webber says.
Continuous improvement "Government is learning that it doesn't need a competitive advantage, but a comparative advantage," Webber says. As with the private sector, government Web sites need to have a plan in place for continuous improvement and product development based on "customer" feedback.
As for the team behind The Official Site of the State of Colorado, they've taken this exact approach when it comes to developing online services. The site team has a testing, marketing, and feedback plan for every new service it rolls out. In the near future, the site will offer new options such as the ability for businesses to remit sales tax and state income tax filings for citizens.
"Any government service that requires mailing in documents, paying a fee or fine, or standing in line is a great opportunity to make those processes more efficient for end users through Web services," Olsen says.
Courtney Macavinta is a Silicon Valley-based business and technology writer. Her articles have appeared in CNET News, Business 2.0, Red Herring, Wired News, and The Washington Post.