Carahsoft Releases Citizen Experience Report Highlighting Citizen Satisfaction and Concerns

RESTON, Va., May 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider^®, today released a new study highlighting the citizen experience (CX) with Federal Government services amid the pandemic. The interactive report details key insights supporting the need for Federal agencies to quickly adopt IT and digital solutions to improve and enhance the current state of the citizen experience. This survey, conducted by an independent research group, includes responses from more than 2,300 citizens in the United States who interacted with Federal agencies during the pandemic. Survey sponsors include: Acquia, Adobe, DocuSign, Granicus, Hootsuite, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Tableau.

“This report highlights just how difficult it is to move the needle on citizen experience, but at the same time there are some bright spots,” said Craig P. Abod, Carahsoft President. “Respondents have indicated that they are comfortable engaging with Government to provide feedback, and they are looking for Government to deploy the next-generation CX technology that offers both improved self-service functionality and security, similar to the experience offered by the private sector.”

Key Findings

Despite government efforts, customers expect more improvements

• 39% of respondents indicated that they have not seen an improvement in their experience when engaging with the Federal Government since the onset of COVID-19
• 53% reported that their experience has been about the same

Self-service options are a key component of a positive citizen experience

• 73% of respondents said they prefer or exclusively seek out self-service technology
  

Citizens are comfortable providing feedback to Government agencies

• 79% said they were somewhat or very likely to provide feedback to the Federal Government if they had a poor experience
• 76% said they were somewhat or very likely to tell friends or post on their social channels about a bad experience with a Federal Government provider

Approximately one-third of respondents report difficulties accessing information or slow service delivery when interacting with Government agencies

• 40% reported wait times over five minutes when on the phone
• 39% have experienced slower than normal mail delivery
• 33% reported that information was hard to find on Federal websites
• 13% indicated wait times of more than two weeks for in-person or phone appointments

Concerns about data security linger

• 23% had concerns with privacy of information and the risk of being hacked
• 18% were concerned that they could not tell the difference between communications from the Federal Government and a scam
• 16% were concerned their data could be shared
  

Since 2004, Carahsoft continues to be the trusted authority and go-to solutions provider on all things Citizen Experience related. The interactive and full report are available for download at www.carahsoft.com/cxreport

Supporting Quotes

“COVID-19 shed a bright light on the importance for government to digitize operations. As a result, agencies are accelerating transformation towards a paperless government centered around digital forms, workflows, e-signatures, document collaboration, and intuitive self-service websites,” said Jonathan Benett, technical director for government solutions at Adobe.

“Social media is an important communications tool for government agencies that need to share information, respond to citizen feedback or answer individual questions in real time. This outreach provides a welcome and more personalized experience for citizens,” said Ben Cathers, global principal solution consultant at Hootsuite.

“Citizen experience begins and ends with trust. The survey results indicate agencies are making progress on the long-standing priority of providing citizens visibility and access to information. Many agencies are now utilizing digital, self-service channels to share their mission, performance, and program achievements – enhancing accountability, transparency, and trust,” said Gerard Valerio, Federal civilian solution engineering director, Tableau.

“It’s critically important for federal agencies to offer superior online platforms for citizens. Providing citizens with an intuitive, personalized experience so they can easily interact and transact is a goal that is in reach for many Government agencies,” said Jonathan Woods, Federal team lead at Acquia.

“Improving citizen access to services and information in a timely and transparent manner has been a government priority for years. With only one-third of respondents indicating that they had difficulty accessing the information they were looking for - it’s clear that government is making progress. At Salesforce, we are here to serve the agencies that serve citizens in order to continue to move the needle in mission success,” said Eva Skidmore, VP global public service marketing, Salesforce.

Methodology

In October and November 2020, market research firm Merit surveyed 2,312 individuals across multiple demographics and regions in the United States. The survey was conducted on behalf of Carahsoft.

Additional Resources

The full Post-COVID-19 Citizen Experience Report and the Interactive Report Summary can be accessed here: www.carahsoft.com/cxreport

About Carahsoft

Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider^®, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator^® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Customer Experience, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com.

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