Often, being late to market with a new idea or service allows you to leap-frog others who got there first. A great example of that currently unfolding in the state of NSW in Australia, is the creation of government ‘one-stop shop’ called Service NSW (SNSW). SNSW is becoming the single customer service ‘department’ for all of the State’s government services – the current plethora of phone numbers, web-sites and shop-fronts is being merged into a single service team, with one number, one website and one consolidated style of service centre.
It’s a simple enough idea, and certainly not a new one. Most large organisations more or less consolidated their websites, call centres and shops years ago. But most didn’t quite finish the job, and most still fail to link their channels together in a seamless way. Back end silos, legacy systems and many other hurdles present challenges that take years to overcome.
Other government departments locally and globally have tackled similar challenges on a smaller scale, say merging just contact centres, or merging 2 or 3 departments.
But NSW seems to be about the first anywhere to be aiming at it all – all government services, all channels, and with a strong customer service ethic driving the entire initiative. It’s early days still, but I think they may end up not just leading service in the government sector but ahead of many corporates as well…
Watch these two videos for more info.
• Service NSW Launch
• Service NSW now open
