Obama improves his Customer Service

In the directive issued by Barack Obama in May, a strategy has been set out to make services available via mobile devices in an effort to keep pace with the increase in smart phone use and improve the availability of government information via mobile to the American people.

Obama explains that until now, accessing government information has been a complex and painstakingly time consuming task, which has forced Americans to collate information from across government programs in order to identify exactly which services they require.  

The Obama administration is right to drive an improvement in its record keeping and consolidate information to enhance the accessibility with which individuals can navigate through government information. According to the Institute of Customer Service -  Good customer service is a critical component of business success and there is a direct link between high quality customer service and customer retention, business performance and – of most significance in this case – reputation.

Customers are increasingly demanding instant access to information and through enabling access through mobile devices is a sure-fire way to bring the knowledge and information as and when it is required.  Good customer service is not just applicable to Government, retail and other customer facing sectors, by focusing on customer needs and by creating efficiencies when managing problems, issues can be remedied quickly and efficiently.

The implementation of a mobile Government service is one means by which to increasing efficiencies and maintain a positive reputation – surely it is only a matter of time before other businesses adopt a similar approach.

Government Data Sharing

Cabinet Minister Francis Maude has recently unveiled his initiative to increase the ability for Government departments to share public data.

The plans, if passed, will make it easier for government and public sector organisations to share confidential public information. The plans will also make it possible to license the sharing of data where it is currently prohibited, subject to privacy safe guards.

According to the ICO, data sharing is currently seen as the disclosure of data from one or more organisations to a third party organisation or organisations, or the sharing of data between different parts of a single organisation, which can take many forms.

The initiative proposes to put in place  fixed guidelines which look set to aide good practice – enabling organisations to collect and share personal data in a way that is fair, transparent and in-line with the expectations of those whose information they are sharing.

Data sharing has been discussed in detail since 2007, with Tony Blair proposing amendments to the Data Protection Act to allow greater data sharing between departments within the government – but this was met by opposition from those who stated that this would affect data privacy.

Government departments, if they choose to data share, need to have a secure and reliable system in place with which to store sensitive information. Through removing the manual files and replacing the process with a secure, electronic system data protection is adhered to, and only those who are privy to reviewing certain information have access to it securely. This reduces the likelihood of sensitive information being lost, stolen or falling into the hands of those who should not have access to it.

We would be naive to believe that data sharing currently does not exist – what should be concerning is the way in which this sharing may occur. With many files being paper, surely the manual processes associated with sharing the information should be cause for alarm?