Professional Documents
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In an economic downturn like the one the world has been experiencing since
Table of Contents
the late summer of 2008, social services and social security organizations find
themselves in a unique bind. At a time when government budgets are being
3 Develop client segmentation severely cut and staff are being laid off, many organizations find that they are
strategies to identify the diverse
needs of citizens. providing services to more people than ever before. One response to the new
5 Emphasize choice and access economic reality is to continue doing everything as before. Such an approach,
to services however, is almost certain to fail. An organization may be able to slide by for a
6 Ensure that all citizens benefit
short period with increased caseloads combined with fewer staff and smaller
from the information society
8 Increase the opportunity for budgets; but in a protracted economic decline this approach just won’t scale.
professional development
9 Enable information sharing
across government
10 Reduce fraud and abuse through
effective identity management
and effective privacy legislation
and policy
11 Establish governance measures
to support intergovernmental
collaboration and partnerships
11 A Simple Choice
The fundamental concept behind 1. Develop client segmentation strategies to identify the diverse needs of citizens.
citizen-centered service is that, The fundamental concept behind citizen-centered service is that, when it
when it comes to allocating comes to allocating services and benefits, citizen needs take priority over
services and benefits, citizen organizational requirements. Many governments have embraced this concept
needs take priority over and some, like the Canadian Federal Government via Service Canada, have
organizational requirements. taken steps to make it a reality. Governments are taking great strides to better
understand the needs of citizens and groups of citizens, and the leaders are
designing service offerings that meet these needs. Many governments have
developed rudimentary segmentation techniques based on demographic
categories, and are providing administrative information and some services
tailored to these groups. Services accessible from Web sites, for example, are
grouped by life event categories, such as retirement and unemployment. While
still in early stages, leading governments are putting steps in place to develop
robust client segmentation strategies to define service offerings in support of
overall government desired program outcomes. And those that are moving in
this direction are finding that the client segmentation strategies help maximize
value in existing programs and services by eliminating redundancies across
organizations and reducing costs.
At the same time, many of these organizations are learning that benefits can
be realized when there is active engagement with the public. Governments
are beginning to seek citizen input and feedback into policy and program
development, as well as proposed legislative changes, through online
Steps That Social Security and Social Services Organizations Can Take to Thrive in a Weak Economy
Page 4
interactive portals and other accessible means. And the involvement is not just
short term. Forward thinking administrators are emphasizing the continued
involvement of citizens in policy and program development. In Australia, for
example, the government has set principles for online engagement that support
a consistent experience for everyone dealing electronically with Australian
government. In the UK, the Government is implementing new processes to
engage with citizens, businesses, and public servants. These types of efforts can
not only help to enhance existing programs and services, they can also identify
valuable innovations; all of which can improve service delivery, customer
satisfaction, and, ultimately, program outcomes.
If you are interested in moving in this direction, the first thing to do is to gain
comprehensive understandings of your current service and benefit delivery
strategy and the clients you serve. What are your priorities? What do you do
well and not so well? What is strategically important to your organization? By
first gaining a clear understanding of where you are today, you will pave the
way for developing and implementing new segmentation strategies that engage
your clients, improve outcomes, and increase client satisfaction.
What is strategically
important to your
organization?
Steps That Social Security and Social Services Organizations Can Take to Thrive in a Weak Economy
Page 5
Americas Europe
Canada 2001 Sweden 1998
United States 1990, 1998 Spain 1998, 2005
Brazil 2004 U.K. 2002, 2005
Germany 2002
Asia Pacific Ireland 2002
Japan 2004 Italy 2004
China 1991, 2006 Switzerland 2004
Australia 1996, 2000, 2001 European Union 2004
India 2005 Netherlands 2003
Portugal 1999
Austria 2006
Steps That Social Security and Social Services Organizations Can Take to Thrive in a Weak Economy
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Highlights Assistive technologies alone won’t be enough because they will not make
computers and on line information fully accessible to everyone. Designers
If you want to ensure that all of typically focus on the characteristics of the average user. But by designing
your constituents benefit from the for the average user, we sometimes create unintentional barriers to full
information you have to share, accessibility that even assistive technologies can’t always overcome. For
consider a universal design example, GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) that allow overlapping graphical
approach which is all about windows, clickable icons, draggable functions, and controls that are dependent
designing products that are usable on the use of a mouse are difficult for users who are blind or with low vision;
by the broadest possible group even with accessibility tools like screen readers. If you want to ensure that
of users without the need for all of your constituents benefit from the information you have to share,
adaptation or specialization. consider a universal design approach which is all about designing products
that are usable by the broadest possible group of users without the need for
adaptation or specialization. It takes into account differences in sight,
hearing, mobility, speech and cognition, and can benefit everyone; not just
people with disabilities.
Recruiting and training new In order to retain experienced staff and prepare them for new ways of
staff can cost anywhere between working with clients, countries like Australia and Canada, have developed
a few thousand dollars and internal colleges to provide professional development for service delivery
$50,000 in both hard and professionals, and have created specific career tracks. Other countries are
soft costs. In order to retain beginning to include training and development in their overall service
experienced staff and prepare improvement strategies. The end result is not only improved service delivery
them for new ways of working with and service outcomes; it also improves staff recruitment and retention efforts
clients, countries like Australia and by teaching new skills, creating career ladders, and providing opportunities
Canada, have developed internal for career development.
colleges to provide professional
development for service delivery Getting started begins with assessing your service delivery model — both
professionals, and have created current and future — and aligning that assessment with the skills and
specific career tracks. capabilities of your workforce. Once you’ve identified the capability gaps,
you’ll be able to begin creating the training needed to develop those skills
from within your organization. This approach will be less costly than bringing
in those skills from the outside, and long term both your workforce and your
clients will be happier.
Steps That Social Security and Social Services Organizations Can Take to Thrive in a Weak Economy
Page 9
6. Reduce fraud and abuse through effective identity management and effective privacy
Highlights
legislation and policy.
Various approaches are used across the world to manage individual identity
Tough economic times necessitate
for benefit and services registration as well as authentication purposes.
that organizations utilize limited
Maintaining the integrity of the benefits and services delivered is crucial to
resources as efficiently and
ensure that the right benefits have been provided to the right person at the
effectively as possible. The
right time for the intended purpose, so that fraud and abuse of the system
elimination of fraud and abuse,
are avoided. Underlying a solid identity management regime is the need for
and a strong identity management
strong privacy legislation. In Europe, the Data Protection Directive sets out a
regime will provide the foundation
wide range of rights for individuals including access, compensation and the
for accomplishing this goal.
prevention of processing. It also gives individuals rights over their personal
information. All member states are required to have legislation in place that
meets the requirements of this directive. Tough economic times necessitate
that organizations utilize limited resources as efficiently and effectively
as possible. The elimination of fraud and abuse, and a strong identity
management system will provide the foundation for accomplishing this goal.
How do you get started? With your data. Most social services and social security
organizations are data rich and information poor. They do a wonderful job of
collecting all types of data. But they don’t do a very good job of turning that
data into actionable information that can support decision making. Your data
must be driven by business needs. Otherwise it’s just numbers that may or may
not be useful. A sound master data management strategy is essential in order
to ensure data consistency and control throughout the organization. Once
your data is in order, you can put the tools in place to help reduce and
eliminate fraud.
Steps That Social Security and Social Services Organizations Can Take to Thrive in a Weak Economy
Page 11
Don’t try to “boil the ocean” Don’t try to “boil the ocean” by defining governance for everything in IT
by defining governance for all at one time. Instead, identify the things that are going to make a critical
everything in IT all at one time. difference right now. It might be important, for example, to eliminate fraud. Or
Instead, identify the things that maybe it’s more critical to improve access to services through new channels.
are going to make a critical What are the hot issues that can be differentiating for your organization now?
difference right now. Improve governance for these challenges first.
A Simple Choice.
In a new economic environment, with new demands, the choice is really
quite simple: innovation or stagnation. If social services and social security
administrators continue to do things as they always have, they will almost
certainly fail at meeting these demands. But with new ways of thinking about
client needs and program design, and new methods of service delivery and
administration; administrators can enhance existing programs and services
as well as create innovative new approaches to position their organizations for
long-term success. Innovation is not only possible in a weak economy,
it’s essential.
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