When the Australian Federal Government set its 2025 vision to be a world leader in the delivery of digital services, nobody predicted the coronavirus pandemic was around the corner.
But it shouldn’t stop this vision from being realised. Quite the opposite, in fact. The pandemic, and all the rapid change it brings, underscores the urgency of building optimal digital experiences for Australians.
People around the world are forced to rethink how they live and work having been thrown into a world where they interact less face to face, and more online. As a result, organisations are having to adapt the way they work, operate, and how they fulfil customer expectations. Now, more than ever, is the time to ensure digital experience is optimised for users and employees.
Industry impact
Every industry is impacted by the pandemic, but one in particular are government agencies and departments around the world. With people working from home and ‘socially distanced’ from others, the pandemic has deepened reliance on digital services – specifically those provided by the government as organisations and individuals look to the government for support and answers.
There’s an influx of people trying to access services that many haven’t needed before. For example, many have been left without a job, which means they need to access income assistance.
As a result, government organisations providing this service, such as Centrelink, have experienced long queues outside offices around the country and the myGov website has spiked over 123,000 concurrent users since the pandemic began. For the latter, ensuring the digital experience and user impact is perfect is imperative so individuals get the services and result they need.
Necessity is the mother of invention
Public and private sector organisations are moving fast to build the necessary digital services for users during the pandemic. Some services have been spun up in a matter of days to provide people with the information and resources they need.
In Italy, the government set up a Digital Solidarity site to provide support to those in lockdown as companies have signed up to provide their solutions and services to citizens, free of charge. Some examples include technology companies that have given homebound citizens access to cloud computing platforms, mobile phone companies which have given extra data allowances, and magazines are providing free subscriptions.
In Australia, before the outbreak, there was some progress made in providing access to simple, clear and fast digital services. However, one silver lining to the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic is that government agencies are realising the benefits of fast-tracking digital transformation.
Government agencies are now also realising is that it’s not just the short-term solutions we need to focus on – the pandemic will adapt our behaviour and habits for the future. Not only will it change the way people operate within their organizations, but the way we use online services, the way we interact with colleagues and family members and how we deliver information as well. Organisations need to adapt their operations now to better prepare and serve communities and individuals in the future with safe, secure and reliable services.
Looking forward
The pandemic is throwing a lot of unexpected challenges to us all, but it’s also bringing an opportunity to re-evaluate current strategies, plans and processes to optimise the digital user experience and achieve the vision our plans have.
For more best practices on how to optimise digital user experiences, download our whitepaper and see how software intelligence can help you drive simple, clear and fast public services. And, if you want to hear from our Dynatrace experts – watch our webinar on best practices for government bodies during COVID-19.
