Create better omnichannel government experiences

By Nancy Newell, Head of Marketing Experiences and Partner Strategy, Public Sector, Adobe

Imagine the possibilities for streamlining operations, advancing mission, and elevating citizen trust through omnichannel government experiences that are equal to everyday commercial ones. The Home Depot is a best-in-class example of using an omnichannel strategy to nail the customer journey and equip employees with the right tools to empower organizational efficiency.

Commercial experiences lead the way

I recently spoke with an entrepreneur who was excited she had landed a significant new contract with a technology company. The only thing left to do was to get a document from her state government. “Simple enough,” she thought. “I’ll just go online and request the document.”

When she went to the website, she learned that she had to send a fax or letter via mail, and requests would be filled in two to three business days. She sent a fax and waited 10 days without a reply.

Frustrated, she called the contact center, which was only open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. After 90 minutes on hold, she reached a representative who couldn’t confirm receipt of the fax because the machine was in another building. The customer service representative said the best option was to express mail the request overnight (to ensure it’s trackable) — and not forget to include a postage-paid, self-addressed envelope, of course.

The entrepreneur contrasted this experience with one she had the same week with an online retailer. She had a question about a recent return and reached out to the retailer online and initiated a chat. The representative called her when the company determined more information was needed, and they resolved the matter in just a few minutes. An email confirmation followed moments later. The experience was efficient, completely seamless, and very powerful. It was a truly orchestrated omnichannel experience.

Omnichannel personalization to meet an individual’s unique needs

Rarely do you find a technology strategy or investment that delivers so much value to so many diverse audiences. Omnichannel capabilities benefit the entire public sector ecosystem:

• Citizens benefit from faster, more effective, and more personalized service delivery that mirrors the commercial experiences they’re used to.
• Government employees experience greater productivity and satisfaction with modern tools and automation that provide increased workplace flexibility and empower them to focus on high-value work.
• Mission leaders build trust in government with seamless, effective service experiences and elevate their ability to recruit and retain their workforce.
• IT leaders meet citizen expectations through data-driven decisions that activate a connected experience across online and offline channels and reduce risk with modern, secure FedRAMP solutions.
• All stakeholders receive value through a simple, seamless, secure, and scalable personal experience.

What is an omnichannel experience?

At Adobe, we’ve defined four characteristics of a world-class omnichannel experience.

First, an omnichannel experience in government uses behavioral data and a unified profile to design a personalized and optimal approach to content delivery. Second, it delivers an end-to-end brand strategy with a modernized web platform and content velocity. Third, it applies a targeted channel strategy that drives the right message at the right time to the right user. And finally, it encourages adoption and reach of modernized service delivery through digitized and automated workflows — delivering ROI (return on investment) at every stage in the customer journey.

Build the foundation for success

Omnichannel strategies can deliver powerful experiences, but you need to build a strong foundation for success. This foundation includes driving personalization and engagement through a single accessible view of the customer. An integrated customer journey across web, mobile, email, social, and offline channels is critical. And it requires robust automation to manage the delivery of meaningful and timely messages and offers.

Adobe Experience Cloud offers capabilities that will help you pave the way for omnichannel success:

• A content repository that ensures consistent cross-channel look, feel, tone, and voice for the brand. Watch how the State of Oklahoma’s digital transformation drives economic development with brand consistency.
• An integrated user experience with a single view of the “customer” for real-time decision-making in an agile environment.
• A campaign management tool to create and deliver the right content for the right audience across channels, including extensive self-services, mobile capabilities, and accessibility for all.
• Document workflow applications and electronic signatures that digitize and automate process and enable self-service. Learn how the State of Utah introduced electronic signatures as part of the New Workplace Teleworking Initiative and how urgent this telework capability would become during the pandemic.
• Analytics tools to track campaign performance, drive insights, and measure impact — all with quick and easy-to-use visual dashboards.
• Collaboration-ready applications to power seamless experiences across departments and agencies.
• Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) standards that meet security and compliance requirements to earn and keep public trust.

It takes an ecosystem and a proven team

There is no end to the potential for an omnichannel strategy to advance the mission and transform public service delivery. This is the future — but no one partner can deliver it all. To deliver omnichannel experiences successfully from start to finish, partners must work together in a robust ecosystem. As a team, we can best identify citizen and employee needs and solve challenges inherent to complex public sector organizations.

Our experience-driven government platform helps public sector organizations create highly personalized and effective omnichannel experiences faster than ever. We provide a highly secure, open, and flexible platform that integrates easily with applications that are most important to your mission.

We also garner a rich ecosystem of industry-leading partners to provide comprehensive planning, solution design, and support to improve service delivery quickly and to continually elevate experiences over time. By aligning and complementing capabilities across the data, content, journey, and digitization pillars, the team can overcome challenges and provide the best solutions to meet agency missions and citizen and employee expectations.

Contact Adobe to start your omnichannel journey today

Reach out to Nancy Newell, head of marketing experiences and partner strategy at Adobe, to learn how Adobe’s partners facilitate omnichannel experiences for public sector organizations.

Visit our website for more resources on personalizing critical public outreach and engagement.

Nancy Newell is a seasoned marketing professional with over 20 years of experience managing and overseeing nationwide omnichannel marketing campaigns in all government sectors and various commercial industries. She leads with high energy and enthusiasm and has a passion for brand storytelling through technology and interactive experiences. At Adobe, Newell serves as a subject matter expert in omnichannel marketing experiences and leads the partner strategy needed to unite the right teams to solve government challenges facing the citizen experience.