The last few months have been challenging for government agencies, to say the least. COVID-19 put government service and communication capabilities to the ultimate test; but at the same time, it gave local agencies a clear picture of what needs to change.
At Granicus, we wanted to better understand the new challenges that governments face in the wake of COVID-19. In a new survey, we asked 1,490 government officials and citizens across the U.S. to share the biggest challenges they’ve faced in light of COVID-19, and what they think is the best path forward for government agencies to more effectively serve their citizens. Here’s what we found.
Throughout COVID-19, government agencies were challenged to meet heightened expectations and increased demand for their services. In fact, government officials and citizens agree that meeting demand for assistance and services has been the top challenge throughout the pandemic (28% and 41%, respectively), followed closely by citizen confusion and frustration (25% and 30%). Overall, government officials reported a seven percent drop in confidence in the strength of their organizations’ customer service following COVID-19.
These challenges and gaps in online service delivery have fundamentally changed expectations for local governments. Agencies have reached a point of no return when it comes to digitizing government operations; citizens expect simpler processes, offered online.
Many local governments have wanted to digitize for years, but faced obstacles like limited budgets, bureaucratic processes and legacy systems. COVID-19 created a fresh urgency to modernize, and a unique opportunity for local agencies to set aside these obstacles and reimagine how they connect with citizens.
COVID-19 has provided an opportunity for governments to rethink how they can best serve their citizens through proactive, transparent communications; citizen-centric digital experiences and engagement opportunities; and always-on service delivery. States like Oklahoma have pivoted quickly to this new reality, bringing their unemployment applications process online in just 48 hours.
From our research, we spotted three major opportunities for growth among local governments: civic engagement, digital transformation and combating misinformation.
Amid uncertainty, citizens are increasingly turning to government agencies for answers and information. Local governments have an opportunity to harness this increased interest and attention for sustained engagement, growing their audiences and building two-way communication capability through digital channels.
Our research results clearly illustrate the potential for stronger engagement:
One example of a city making the most of heightened engagement is New York. New York Governor Cuomo used his highly subscribed email newsletter to ask more than 500,000 residents with presumed medical skills to volunteer in NY hospitals, and successfully recruited 40,000 volunteers.
Citizens now expect services to be simple, accessible and readily available online. Governments are eager to meet these rising expectations and are ramping up their digitization efforts accordingly, moving services like driver’s license renewals, permit applications and unemployment online.
In our survey, we found that:
The spread of misinformation during COVID-19 has been so severe that the problem is considered an “infodemic.” Government has an opportunity to replace unreliable sources with proactive, consistent communication with constituents.
For example, when the City of Berkeley’s first resident tested positive for COVID-19, City staff used Granicus’s govDelivery solution to send email and social media notifications to residents within a matter of hours and quickly launched a web page with information and updates.
Here’s what respondents had to say about the spread of misinformation:
In addition to our suite of tools for supporting local, state and federal governments through the COVID-19 pandemic, Granicus offers a range of resources for expediting the digitization of government agencies and can offer expert advice & best practices on the use of CARES Act funding. For more information on how Granicus can help your agency, see here. For more information on the survey results, see here.
