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Article Article November 27th, 2017
Technology

Celebrating what’s great in digital government services

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The GovCX Awards aim to identify and salute the best in digital government services around the world, explains @miguelm60

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Do you know of a government that’s providing great digital citizen experiences? @miguelm60 wants to hear from you

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The GovCX Awards are focused on how citizens interact with digital government – tell @miguelm60 about your experiences

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Today's digital stage is increasingly dominated by the promises of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain which are fast moving from theory to reality, the former more quickly than the latter.

Governments, I'm happy to report, continue to improve the way they deploy these technologies to improve public services. Of course there is always more to do, but online services are increasingly designed around the user and are far more intuitive than they used to be. Departments are using their vast datasets more effectively and policymakers the world over recognise that technology is an essential, not an optional, facet of government services.

Introducing the GovCX Awards

To celebrate this progress, and to help maintain the momentum, The Boston Consulting Group has launched the GovCX Awards, a new competition which aims to identify and celebrate the best in digital government services around the world.

We are focused on the citizen experience of government, by which I mean the experience that citizens have when they interact with government services. This used to occur mainly in person and sometimes it is over the phone but now many citizens increasingly expect this to happen digitally - and who can blame them? After all, it should be far easier to renew your passport using your tablet and from your sofa, than finding and waiting in the nearest government agency or post office.

GovCX is the first-of-its-kind global initiative designed to acknowledge and celebrate governments that offer their citizens the best possible digital experience. We want to showcase the great work in digital CX from governments around the world, celebrate the achievement of the people behind them, and to inspire others.

So what is a ‘digital government service', exactly?

A digital government service is any service that is provided digitally by a government organisation to individuals or businesses. This can include ‘information services' - those that do not require an individual to give personal details in order to access the service. For example, this could be things like a website that provides information on how to apply for a permit or passport, or an app that provides a weather or traffic information service.

Then there are ‘transactional services', which require individuals to provide or exchange personal information in order to complete a transaction. This could be applying for a passport or completing an online tax return. Another example would be paying a parking fine online.

Eligibility and nominations

The good news is that any digital government service that is publicly available to citizens can be nominated for a GovCX award. Anyone can nominate a digital government service for an award, including citizens and people who work in government. More details on how to nominate can be found here.

The only condition is that it must be a digital service provided by a government organisation. We define ‘government organisation' as a public sector or civil service organisation that is established through an act of parliament, and has some level of government oversight and responsibility. This includes government business enterprises and state-owned enterprises.

Digital services provided by private sector organisations, political parties, politicians and non-government or not-for-profit organisations are ineligible. Internal-facing services for people who work in government are also out-of-scope.

The process

The top three GovCX nominations, as decided by our highly-qualified panel of judges, will be announced in early 2018. Nominations will be assessed across two dimensions - usability and user experience. By usability we mean accessibility and ease of use, format and layout, and information and communication. For user experience, we will be looking at design and appearance, navigation and flow, interactivity, engagement and fulfillment.

Nominations are open until 13 December, 2017 and can be made here.  So, if there's a digital government service you love, or are proud of, we want to hear about it!

If you have any questions or suggestions about the GovCX Awards, please contact us at govcx@bcg.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Written by:

Miguel Carrasco Senior Partner and Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group, Canberra
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