Government entities and digital technologies have a complicated relationship: they need each other badly, but getting together seems to require a lot of time and effort. Or at least that is what everyone thought before. With the arrival of Digital Experience Platforms and the increasing consolidation of content management, being digital has become a milestone that requires precision, vision, and knowledge. Today, leveraging modern software such as Digital Experience Platforms for Government initiatives is critical to keep up with expectations and citizen demands.
There are plenty of reasons why government entities should be completely digital. Having a website with simple information was enough a decade ago, but it’s nothing compared to what an organization can do when paired with a Digital Experience Platform. From integrating Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to online payments, Government entities should embrace new technologies to provide services, programs, and overall relevant information to citizens and stakeholders. Especially when government entities now face the challenge of being able to achieve a wider reach from a distance because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
How to get there is the big question. However, this is where Digital Experience Platforms do their magic. By setting a stable foundation for organizations of all sizes to grow digitally, DXPs set the ground where Government entities can manage their digital offerings. Less intervention from IT teams to publish and manage, more centralization, and a more hands-on approach are what make them so attractive. After one initial engagement for setup, content migration, and training, everything runs smoother.
Here are some of the reasons why Government entities like Cities, Counties, Agencies, and States should migrate to a Digital Experience Platform. There are plenty of benefits beyond “just” being modern—it can even make internal processes more streamlined and productive.
Take a look:
Efficiency in Digital Government
Working with an old content management system can be inefficient. With unintuitive interfaces, complex processes, bugs, a lack of software updates, and a lack of mobile support, publishing (and approving!) 1 single piece of content can take ages. Leveraging a Digital Experience Platform for Government entities directly tackle that problem. Their drag-and-drop features, rich content editors, and easy-to-create interactive elements, such as carousels and forms, enable government content authors to communicate and engage with their audiences efficiently and, more importantly, in a timely manner.
Security
Using regular Content Management Systems (CMS) not only may limit the digital experience potential of a government entity—but may open the door to vulnerabilities. Many CMS solutions based on PHP have become a magnet to attacks and hackers, putting sensitive information and data at risk. On that note, DXPs can be implemented to comply with higher levels of security, such as FedRAMP, ensuring that everything is protected with the highest standards.
Omnichannel
One of the challenges of providing Government services is how to reach multiple audiences, with no distinction. From the elderly to businesses of all sizes, their digital channels should be prepared and designed to be able to be consumed by everyone. Going omnichannel means reaching everyone by all the channels available: website, intranets, mobile apps, social media, etc. And having a centralized solution, such as a leveraging a Digital Experience Platform for Government entities, can help you manage everything from one single system.
Scalability for Government Channels
As we mentioned in a past Digital Transformation article, being scalable is one of the features that digital channels from organizations of all sizes should leverage. By setting up your digital channels in a DXP, Government entities can automate actions and attend to more people simultaneously, achieving exponential impact on the audiences they reach. This is technically impossible through appointments and “physical" processes. Taking advantage of the new Cloud offerings that include performance scalability - being able to serve millions of citizens at the same time - is no longer a dream. It is a reality.
In addition to this, you can also leverage design systems and customer experience toolkits, which will make managing content and growth easier.
Following Government Guidelines: Standardization
Working with Government entities means dealing with many different actors and needs. However, to create a compelling digital citizen experience, information must be presented in a consistent and standardized way to ensure engagement. DXPs capability of managing multi-tenancy websites is very helpful for this. Managing user roles and levels, site architecture, and using a design system (branding guidelines, templates, and shared UI components), a government entity can create an ecosystem of websites (like programs, agencies, councils, and offices) that have their own room and space, but are aligned to reach the same objective.
Digital Experience Platforms for Government: Improving Quality
Getting things done online is no longer a challenge for Government entities. Being able to call to action, instruct, educate, and promote change is what the game is all about. The Covid-19 pandemic forced us to double-click on this idea: our digital environments should be mature enough for us to achieve what we want to do (like pay a bill or enroll in a program) without suffering throughout every step of our journey. As we continue to face challenges of increasing complexity, leveraging the potential of our digital channels to achieve quality and satisfaction should be the common goal.
With over a decade of experience in both the public and private sectors, Base22 can help you strategize, plan, and execute your digital projects. If you are planning to implement a Digital Experience Platform for Government initiatives or digital presence, reach out to us, and we can schedule a call.
