Towards Service Excellence

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Towards Service Excellence
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Why Service Quality?

• Little attention to service issues at a
  government-wide level
• Government agencies owe basic obligations to the
  public
• Helps government achieve its desired outcomes
• Good service is good business

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What Does Our Report Contain?

• Principles of good client service
• Practical guidance
• Assessment
• Practical illustrations
• Best practices

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Distinctive Features of Service Delivery in the
Public Sector

• The market limited client choice
• Special obligations the state and its citizens
• Policy objectives of Government
• Equity and access considerations

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Whom Did We Audit?

• Customs Service
• Intellectual Property Office
• Passports Office
• Department of Conservation
• Tenancy Services

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What Did We Look For?

• Making a corporate commitment to client service
• Knowing who your clients are and what they need
• Providing appropriate access to services
• Making sure the right services are delivered

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Making Client Service a Priority

• Quality service is everybody's responsibility
• management
• call centre
• systems support
• counter staff
• processing staff
• human resources

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What Did We Look For?

• Providing the necessary resources for effective
  service delivery
• Measuring service performance
• Reporting on service performance
• Seeking continuous improvement

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Key Characteristics of a Client Focused Public
Agency
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Making Client Service a Priority

• Leadership, vision, values, public image,
  branding
• Make client service a corporate goal
• Link planning to client service objectives
• Centre business cases round service goals

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Understanding the Client

• Client characteristics
• Needs and expectations
• Mix of services
• participation in service design
• consultation - inclusive
• partnership

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Access to Services

• Choice/mix/options
• Responsiveness
• Equity displacement or exclusion
• Access strategies and standards
• Universal service

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Delivering the Right Services

• Reliability is important to the client
• Make sure all your staff are working together in
  the interests of the client
• Tell clients what they can do to help you deliver
  services
• Respect client information
• Be prepared to go the extra mile

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Resourcing Service Delivery

• Your staff are your key asset
• Foster a client-focused culture
• Give your staff the tools they need
• Quality management is the foundation for service
  delivery

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Measuring Service Performance

• Find out which service standards are most
  important to your clients
• Measure the most important aspects of service
• Develop service standards for your individual
  business units

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Measuring Service Performance

• Consider a variety of approaches to assessing
  client satisfaction
• Invite client comment as a way to improve service
• Maintain links with community organisations

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Reporting Service Performance

• Monitor performance against internal business
  objectives
• Report externally on service performance

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Seeking Continuous Improvement

• Regularly review your processes
• Look for ways to improve services
• Use service champions
• Can you learn from benchmarking?
• Build ongoing relationships with stakeholders

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The E-Business Case Key Considerations

• Corporate mission, goals, objectives
• Legality
• Client characteristics
• Service type
• Measuring success
• Managing the transition

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Corporate Mission

• Access
• Consultation with clients
• Quality of service

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The Target Client

• Client segment
• Facilities
• Technology characteristics
• Equity

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The Service

• Readily standardised
• Information type
• Discretion

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Transition/Implementation

• Communications
• Training
• clients
• staff
• Testing
• Roll out
• Advertising
• Support

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Some Final Thoughts

• E-Government is about better achieving your
  corporate mission and goals
• What is your service delivery strategy?
• Put the customer first. Good service is client
  and not IT led
• Your staff are your best asset

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Final Thoughts (contd)

• Develop a business case for changing service
  channels
• Know your clients, and what they need
• Analyse the service type. Is E-Service
  appropriate?

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Final Thoughts (contd)

• Draw up an implementation plan
• consultation
• training
• testing
• Measurement

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Contacting Us

• Our report is on line at www.oag.govt.nz
• For copies of the report or CD ROM contact Bill
  Gebbie on 64 4 917 1539