Highlights and takeaways from the 14th annual Adobe Government Forum

All sessions now available virtually, on demand

“Meeting people where they are in the moments that matter most.” This was the spirit of the 14^th annual Adobe Government Forum — and the embodiment of the forum’s ongoing theme, “digital experiences that put people first.”

Digital experience leaders from industry and government came together May 9 at the iconic Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In a series of discussions, they inspired attendees with stories of successful digital transformation — sharing diverse insights on improving the end-to-end employee experience, creating an experience-driven government for citizens, and delivering those experiences faster with creative and collaborative work management tools.

An immersive experience

In the vibrant setting of the Kennedy Center, attendees enjoyed a range of interactive digital experiences— using Adobe Acrobat Sign to personalize their own mementos and demoing other Adobe technologies in real time. These included the newly launched Adobe Firefly, which showcased the power of generative AI to create art, generative fill and recolor, text effects, and other visual content.

Opening remarks from Adobe leadership

The day began with an inspirational address from Adobe President of Digital Experiences Anil Chakravarthy, who described how Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud, and Adobe Experience Cloud can help government meet its ongoing objective to “do more with less.”

We next heard from VP of Adobe Public Sector Mike Levy, who shared compelling stories of how agencies have already leveraged Adobe capabilities to create better experiences. Through these examples, we learned:

• How the Marine Corps University’s College of Distance Education and Training (CDET) is transforming digital learning for every Marine.
• How the State of Oklahoma is delivering an experience-driven government to every resident.
• How the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is modernizing its content management to help engage the public and reunite children with their families.

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2023 recap — topics, trends, and insights

Here’s a recap of the day’s sessions, including key takeaways and access to full on-demand sessions.

The power of experience

Formal federal CIO Suzette Kent led this two-part conversation with leaders in federal and state governments. We heard civilian, DoD, and state agency insights on how to deliver a world-class CX.

Participants: U.S. Air Force CXO Colt Whittall, US Department of Agriculture CCXO Simchah Suveyke-Bogin, State of Maryland secretary of information technology and CIO Katie Savage, and cabinet secretary of the Department of Human Services for State of Oklahoma Justin Brown

Key insights include:

• Empowering staff with better tools and UX to aid retention, readiness, and performance — both for military and state agency personnel.
• Engaging users at a deeper level to understand their needs — whether they’re airmen, state residents, farmers and ranchers, or state agency employees.
• Using human-centered design on the back and front ends to reduce friction and improve access to services. This includes understanding how rural communities access USDA services, how state employees are using tools to do their jobs, and barriers Maryland and Oklahoma residents face when accessing resources.

Transforming the federal and DoD workforce in 2023 and beyond

In this two-part discussion, defense and civilian leaders share their strategies for revitalizing the workforce and transforming the employee experience.

Participants: Brigadier General Daphne Davis, deputy commanding general (support), U.S. Army Recruiting Command; Monique Hamilton, first assistant secretary, information communications Technology (ICT) Service Delivery and Reform, Australia Department of Defense; Ted Okada, CTO, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); David Aten, former acting CHCO, Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Key insights include:

• Embracing empathy and diversity and measuring what’s important to the user. Aten of the IRS explains why understanding user needs is key to developing the right KPIs — citing the IRS recent success in increasing call center efficiency by understanding its customers’ needs.
• Tailoring experiences to attract and retain next-generation talent. In the US Army, BG Davis says this means appealing to digital natives via their preferred channels, recruiting in more diverse professional venues, and demonstrating how the Army can help young people fulfill their personal passions and goals.
• Investing in data. Ted Okada of FEMA emphasized the importance of data quality — and ensuring that government decisions are based on good data that reflects the diversity of our nation and workforce.

Bringing best-in-class digital experience to solve government’s biggest challenges

Adobe’s General Manager for Public Sector Kelly Olson and UPS President of IT Theresa O’Leary discussed UPS’ innovation-driven strategy for enhancing the employee experience — and how government can apply similar strategies.

Key themes include:

• Delivering a consumer-like experience to employees — making it just as easy and intuitive to transact business at work as it is at home.
• Fostering a unified, connected culture with a global employee portal. O’Leary describes UPSers.com as the primary vehicle and voice from the UPS to its employees. It serves as a one-stop shop for employee information and resources — and a way for UPS to inform, motivate, and unify its diverse workforce.
• Embracing diversity. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the employee experience. O’Leary notes that the diversity of roles, locations, and priorities across UPS’ global workforce means each person’s experience must be tailored and relevant.

Reimagine the content experience and customer engagement

Adobe’s Head of Industry Strategy James Hanson talks with Marc McCrery, VP of customer experience at the United States Postal Service. They discuss how, as the world’s largest retailer, the USPS continues to evolve its services to keep pace with changing customer expectations.

Key themes include:

• Meeting customers on their channel of preference. “Customer needs have changed,” says McCrery. “We’re constantly trying to understand how they want to communicate and how they want their issues resolved.” He explained the value of self-service options and multiple contact channels — including email, chatbots, and call centers with virtual and human agents — in meeting customer needs at speed and scale.
• Operating sustainably and efficiently. Like other government agencies, USPS must constantly find ways to do more with less. McCrery describes the USPS 10-year plan to sustain quality service cost-effectively to 160 million addresses daily. It includes creating new offerings, better utilizing existing investments, and centralizing internal operations.
• Improving CX by innovating products and services. McCrery shares how USPS is digitally innovating its offerings to better serve customers. Its Informed Delivery service enables digital interactions with physical mail — giving customers more options for managing their deliveries. This makes customers more informed and empowered while reducing call volumes and increasing digital impressions for USPS.

Afternoon sessions focused on three priority areas to government at all levels:

Track 1. Experience-driven government

In a series of panel discussions, Adobe engages digital experience experts to explore how government can deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. Leaders from the Department of Labor, FAA, World Bank, and more discuss strategies for enhancing digital equity, improving access to citizen services, and streamlining operations via digitization and automation. Key takeaways include:

• Transform incrementally. Kay Rider is the airport branch manager for the FAA, cautions that it’s harder to get buy-in, support, and resources from senior leadership if you attempt a wholesale change. Start with small improvements and back them with a strong business case that shows clear customer benefits.
• Government and creativity can go hand-in-hand. Eugene Mejia is the assistant CTO of Gilbert, Arizona, talks about unlocking employee creativity by democratizing access to tools — improving experiences for both employees and residents.
• Scale through partnerships. Keith Armonaitis, the lead for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Innovation Lab, says partnerships can help position your digital front door as a single authoritative source of data. By getting business partners to trust and share your data with their own users, your agency can extend its reach with less expense.
• Democratize insights through data governance. Danielle Doolin is a solution specialist for Adobe and Spencer Cummings is the CDO for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They discuss using data governance to democratize insights across your agency — and how data stewards can empower others to make data-driven decisions.
• Balance privacy and accessibility. Flora Mood is the practice lead for World Bank sees privacy as an opportunity — not a barrier. When analyzing how audiences access and use World Bank data, her team tracks collective behavior versus individual actions. By surfacing larger behavior patterns, World Bank can optimize user experiences without focusing on personal data.

Track 2. Employee experience and the future of work

In this panel series, leaders from the global public sector — including the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Department of Defense, FBI, Office of Personnel Management, and Australian DOD — share their thoughts on meaningful, personalized, and connected employee experience (EX) in government to build and prepare the workforce of the future.

• Accelerate missions with connected experiences. Greg Tickle, the director of digital services with the Australian DOD, discusses ServiceConnect — a digital channel that streamlines mission delivery by centralizing access to services and information department-wide.
• Dispersed talent requires collaborative tools. Justin Fanelli is the director of PEO digital enterprise services at the US Navy, shares how the Navy is leveraging collaborative work tools to support its geographically dispersed workforce. “Talent isn’t all in one place,” he said. “Unless we’re harnessing the most talented people in different places, we’ll miss out.”
• AI can streamline and tailor training. Patrick Johnson is the director of the DoD’s Workforce Innovation Directorate, shares how DOD is using AI to evaluate course content, shortening a manual process from six months to 45 days. He envisions making AI part of an overall talent management system that streamlines content delivery and personalizes recommendations for employees.
• Speed hiring by sharing resources. Steve Krauss is the senior advisor of OPM’s HR Quality Services Management Office (HR QSMO) and Aliscia Andrews is the deputy secretary for homeland security with the Commonwealth of Virginia. They discuss pooling resumes and job certifications with other agencies to place talent faster. This makes finding talent more efficient for hiring managers and shortens the application process for candidates.

Track 3. Content velocity at the speed of mission

Experts from the FBI, NASA, FDA, Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and more discuss the future of content management in public missions. Panels focus on modernizing citizen and business communications; breaking down operational silos to build trust in government; and the future of creativity, collaboration, and innovation in digital experiences. Key themes include:

• Using data to target communications. Michael Hughes from the National Association of Government Communicators highlights data’s critical role in government diversity initiatives — and how it drives highly segmented and personalized recruitment efforts.
• Unleashing AI’s potential to drive content. Brian Anderson is the director of innovation and digital communications for WMATA, explains AI’s potential to drive creativity in real time and support multitasking to save resources and speed workflows.
• Centralizing asset management. Michael Lentz, the art director at NASA, shares how NASA is adopting a centralized digital asset management system to aid collaboration and unify creativity across different creative teams.
• Every channel approach. Gavin Portnoy, the VP of communications and brand at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, shares that “gone are the days of the milk carton. ” He explains how they use multimedia formats and geotargeting through social media and video partnerships at gas station pumps to find a missing child (one out of five are found through a social media post).

Closing keynote with Kal Penn

In one of the day’s most anticipated sessions, Adobe’s AVP for Federal Civilian, George Junca, sat down with actor Kal Penn, who formerly served as associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. This one-on-one was equal parts humor and wisdom as Mr. Penn told the tale of his transition from Hollywood to the White House, his struggle with imposter syndrome, and the lessons he learned as a staffer for the Obama administration. He shared his personal insights on equity and inclusion in both Hollywood and government, what it will take to galvanize the next generation of voters, and why personalization is key to future citizen engagement.

All sessions available on-demand

The Adobe team thanks everyone who attended the 14^th annual Adobe Government Forum for making this year’s event a resounding success. If you missed this year’s in-person event, good news — all sessions are now available online. Watch them now, on demand.

Adobe provides government agencies with the solutions they need to modernize digital experiences, efficiently deliver services, increase citizen engagement, and build trust through personalization. Visit the Adobe Government Solutions page to learn more about creating simple, seamless, and secure government experiences.

James Hanson has more than 20 years of domain knowledge and expertise in helping organizations develop go-to-market strategies, customer use cases, messaging, and brand positioning across government sectors. As head of industry strategy for public sector digital experience, he is responsible for driving the digital experience for government agenda through public and private use cases and best practices that solve specific federal, defense, and state and local government mission and business challenges.