The CX Tipping Point®

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris talked with Nilufer Erdebil, the Founder and CEO of Spring2Innovation Design Thinking.  Nilufer is a leading consultant of innovation and design thinking with expertise in telecommunications, defence, application development, project management, and information technology management in the public sector.

Nilufer shares her expertise and experience at working in design in Ottawa, Canada.  We discuss the importance of bringing users into the design process and many examples of how design creates more effective and efficient systems.  As a systems engineer, Nilufer designed a system without bringing users into the process.  Later, when she became a user of the system, she understood the value of design thinking.  She has a unique perspective as a designer coming from a technology background.

Learn from her years of experience in government and industry. Nilufer has shared her experience as a Tedx speaker as well.

Check out her book on design thinking at:  Future Proofing by Design

Follow Nilufer on X (formerly Twitter):  @digitalNil  

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with the Acting Chief Customer Officer at the US General Services Administration. Camille Tucker has worked in the Chief Customer Office since 2018 and currently is dual hatted as the Lead for their Voice of the Customer Program and the Acting Chief Customer Officer. For anyone planning to create a Chief Customer Office, Camille shared how the office was originally funded and created, its current funding strategy, how the organization is structured, their primary goals, interesting staffing strategies and lessons learned over the past eight years. 

GSA’s Chief Customer Office was one of the first customer offices created to focus on customers. Over time, they have trained many GSA employees on design thinking and have focused on their digital properties and addressing issues addressed in 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA).  Now, five years after IDEA was enacted, OMB has released guidance on “Delivery Digital First Public Experiences.” Learn how the guidance has impacted GSA.

Learn more about the future goals and strategies in GSA’s Chief Customer Office.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with Noreen Hecmanczuk, a Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagements and Communications to the Federal CIO, Clare Martorana.  In this episode, Noreen shared her experiences that crossed numerous federal agencies and led to an opportunity as a White House Fellow, later joining the US Digital Service where she recognized the transformative potential of technology in government services.  As a senior advisor to the Federal CIO, Noreen convenes technology leaders to advance the strategic use of technology and improve the public’s experience with the government. In the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, she develops strategies for technology modernization and mission delivery, driving a path to digital transformation and overseeing the responsible management of over $120 billion of federal IT spending.

Noreen’s achievements benefit the public by championing simple, seamless and secure experiences when interacting with government services.  Congress requested OMB’s plan to maximize the impact of funds allocated for technology modernization, and Noreen led the development of the Federal IT Operating Plan, ensuring wise investments that create the most impact for the American people.  Additionally, she played a key role in allocating $100 million towards a secure, modern, digital-first government experience, engaging CX experts from across the federal government to maximize the impact of project proposals.

From ensuring food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fostering workforce development at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Noreen has made significant contributions throughout her career.  Noreen shares her insights in working across federal agencies, working with political appointees to achieve a common vision, and the leadership and vision needed to lead agencies towards reducing the Administrative burdens of outdated policies.  

Congratulations to Noreen for her 2023 Service to the Citizen Award!

In this Special Edition Episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to industry experts and practitioners in the field of Government Customer Experience (GovCX).  You will hear from:

• Mary Swartz, ICF Next
• Lee Becker, Medallia
• Rachel Schwind, ASI Government
• Amanda Chavez, NuAxis Innovations

This episode was recorded on the 2nd anniversary of Executive Order 14058, Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government.”  We discussed the impact that having a President’s Management Agenda and Executive Order that focuses on CX which has impacted the government’s focus, progress and maturity.  We also reinforced the importance of improved services to the public, to the government and its employees and to the country.  We delved deeper into progress made over the past five years, the governance models used in the government to drive improved services, the importance of service delivery to improving trust in government and the drivers of trust. We continued with understanding your customer, the business value of CX, and measurement. 

It was a lively and informative conversation with these industry leaders. Listen to a very real conversation about the benefits of improving government services.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point, Martha Dorris spoke to Robert Shea and Adam Hughes of a new consultancy called GovNavigators.  Robert is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer and Adam is a co-founder and President. Using their decades of experience and expertise in government management and driving improved performance, Robert and Adam shared how agencies should:

• Focus on outcomes
• Be motivated by mission
• Move funding to what matters
• Use the customers’ to inform improvements
• Connect the learning agenda with the customer experience and performance agendas

Policy guidance and legislation such as Section 280 of OMB Circular A-11 and the Foundations for Evidence Based Policymaking can drive improvements for the future as well. 

Robert can be contacted at Rshea@govnavigators.com and Adam can be contacted at adam@govnavigators.com.

Their newsletter is available here.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point, Martha Dorris spoke to the Deputy Taxpayer Experience Officer (TXO) at the Internal Revenue Service, Courtney Kay-Decker.  Ms. Kay-Decker has a long history of working in revenue and taxes.  During this episode, she shares how the IRS is using the Inflation Reduction Act funding as well as the challenges and priorities when delivering outstanding services to taxpayers.

Learn about the IRS’ priorities within the Taxpayer Experience Office.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with Dr. Indra Sandal, the Chief of Innovation at the Tampa Veterans Hospital and Mr. Greg Goins, the VISN 9 Network Director and Executive Sponsor of the VHA-Uber Health Connect Initiative. The Department of Veterans Affairs manages a very sophisticated innovation ecosystem that allows them to identify issues and pilot solutions in small ways to determine whether they should be scaled. In this example, they used it to provide veterans access to care.

Based on feedback from veterans, VA identified “transportation” as a major cause for missed medical appointments. With 56% of veterans over the age of 65; 30% relying on their families, solving the transportation issue was a “must”. The VA has partnered with UberHealth to provide transportation to medical appointments. The goal of this program was to:

• Reduce no shows
• Improve their experience of veterans with convenience?
• Cost savings to VA hospitals

Learn how this initiative has been scaled to improve the health of veterans by serving more veterans; reducing the number of missed appointments; and saving the VA valuable funding as well.  

Dr. Sandal and Mr. Goins provided some inspirational messages - nothing is too small and nothing is impossible. Dream big!!

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris talked with Robert (Bob) Kayl, a Program Manager for the Defense Health Agency’s Web and Mobile Technology Program.  Bob shared his journey on returning to government service due to his commitment to the mission of government and the personal satisfaction from working in the government.  

Bob Kayl is a 2023 Service to the Citizen Award winner for his work in DHA’s creation of almost 40 native mobile applications, seven progressive web applications, two virtual reality applications, and projects focused on knowledge management and collaboration. The applications cover categories such as patient health, provider tools, personnel readiness, and organizational management.

Bob was recognized for his innovative approaches to enabling active-duty service members, clinicians, veterans, and families to access digital services to meet their healthcare needs.  His organization also manages health.mil and tricare.mil. Learn more about his efforts in:

1. Knowledge management
2. Cybersecurity including his approach to ethical hacking
3. Drive for innovation to improve the experience their users are having when accessing these websites for their healthcare needs. 

You can learn more about Robert Kayl’s Service to the Citizen award here.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point, Martha Dorris spoke to Dr. Anne Utech, the National Director for the Nutrition and Food Services at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Utech describes her journey at VA, leveraging her experience and expertise in diet and nutrition to serve veterans. Her passion and enthusiasm for the impact that VA’s nutrition and food services programs have had on veterans is inspiring.  Dr. Utech is a 2023 Service to the Citizen Award winner for the Type 2 Diabetes pilot, which resulted in sustained blood sugar control, medication reduction, weight loss, diabetes reversal and improved cardiometabolic health.  

In this discussion, Dr. Utech described:

1. How VA’s voice of veteran program was instrumental in understanding the veterans’ needs and developing the program 
2. The use of data to make decisions regarding veterans’ health, included in the Type 2 Diabetes program
3. Future health and nutrition services efforts to continue improving the health and well being of veterans through nutrition

Dr. Utech's work addresses the urgent issue of diabetes among Veterans and has a significant impact on public health. It sets a new standard for diabetes care, challenges clinical objectives, and serves as a model for federal diabetes policy.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to Matthew (Matt) Cornelius, formerly the Senior Professional Staff Member to Chairman Gary C. Peters of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Matt’s extensive experience and expertise in information technology (IT) modernization, cybersecurity and identity management at the General Services Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, the Alliance for Digital Innovation and the Senate gives him a unique perspective on how to enable agencies to improve the services they deliver to their customers.  He believes that CX is ripe for bi-partisan, bi-cameral action.  Both sides get it.

In addition, Matt shares:

1. Why customer experience is important to improving trust in government from varied experience and expertise.
2. How his experience informed his decisions while serving as the Senior Staff to Chairman Gary Peters.
3. His perspective on the importance of IT modernization and cybersecurity to improving the experience customers have when interacting with the government.
4. The similarities between CX and cybersecurity in its maturation in government.
5. How to leverage Congress in moving the needle in service delivery.

“People should feel well served by its government,” said Matt.  I love those words.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with Bajinder Paul, experienced Chief Information Officer (CIO) across many federal agencies. Bajinder described what he learned from serving at agencies during crises, such as housing issues that were impacted by Hurricane Katrina or the banking crisis of 2009. 

As demonstrated during the pandemic, having a modern infrastructure enabled USDA to deliver services to employees and customers quickly and effectively.  As everyone worked and lived remotely, digital services were a must.  Transforming services to be entirely digital requires the integration of a modern information technology network and infrastructure and an understanding of your customers and their needs and expectations.  CIOs should partner with other members of the C-suite to build flexibility and resilience into the operations of an agency.

Specifically, in this episode, Bajinder shared his insights into:

1.  How a modern technology infrastructure impacts the services delivered to the public and employees
2.  The connection between and importance of the use of emerging technology to improving efficiency thereby improving the employee’s experience and engagement
3.  How CIOs and CX officials should partner to deliver internal and external services
4.  How industry can partner with federal CIOs to deliver services to their internal and external customers
5.  How companies can prepare to meet with federal CIOs

Bajinder is currently the Founder and CEO of Bajinder Advisory Services and can be contacted at bpaulx@gmail.com

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with the intergovernmental, government/industry team that supports Recreation.gov.  Recreation.gov, also known as rec.gov, provides a one-stop shop for the public to access tools, services and information on 4,200 facilities and activities and over 113,000 individual reservable sites across the country.  Thirteen federal agencies participate and contribute to Recreation.gov.  Their customers are not only the public but the agencies that trust them with their content and represent their events and activities.

In this podcast, we discussed:

1. The lessons that they have learned governing, managing and funding a cross-agency program for 25 years.  
2. How the government and industry has partnered to achieve a common vision
3. How Recreation.gov uses feedback in many different forms to inform their decisions 
4. How Recreation.gov integrates delivery channels to provide consistent information across channels

Recreation.gov can be learned from as the government rolls our priority life events.

This episode is sponsored by Teleperformance/Senture.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris talked with John Riordan, a leadership development consultant, coach and trainer of executives in government and industry.  John shares his insights from coaching hundreds of people, many of which were transitioning into the senior executive service. The Federal government’s focus on improving government services through improved customer experience can be a disrupter with challenges in driving change. Leaders can make the difference in the services that the government delivers.  

During this conversation, John shared:

• What the qualities and skills of a transformational leader are
• How leaders can drive change while overcoming challenges
• How leaders can improve employee engagement
• How can a leader lead from the middle
• The impact of COVID-19 on the future of work and how to manage a remote team effectively

John works closely with individuals and teams across the Federal government.  He can be reached  at jr@johnriordan.com.

With the drive towards delivering digital experiences, cybersecurity and customer experience have become interdependent. It’s critical that both of these disciplines are leveraged to achieve the ultimate experience for customers, whether they are employees, retirees, seniors, the public, or other agencies. Customer experience is the perception that your customers have when interacting with your organization. This experience is driven by the ease, efficiency and usefulness of the interaction along with the important trust factor. Trust is built by securely delivering day in and day out what you promise, while protecting the customers privacy.

Today we will explore how cyber and customer experience are both critical and necessary to be integrated to build trust in government. In this session, you will learn:

1. How cybersecurity services can improve through the adoption of a customer-centric mindset and through CX strategies and practices
2. How agencies can learn from their cyber best practices when integrating these CX strategies and practices
3. The importance of balancing cyber and CX when designing and developing systems and services

Learn from Jonathan Kraden, Customer Experience Section Chief at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and Joe Jeter, Senior Vice President, Technology, John Mandell, Managing Director, National Security Practice, and MaryAnn Monroe, Senior Director for Total Experience Services and Solutions from Maximus Federal.

This episode is sponsored by Maximus Federal.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to Noel Hara, the Chief Technology Officer for the NTT Data’s Public Sector. Noel was selected as a 2022 Service to the Citizen Award winner for his efforts to leverage an application to track Covid-19 infection rates to help bring students from K-12 and colleges back into the classroom at the height of the pandemic.

Noel explained what inspired him to take on this effort and how it enabled students to return to the classroom. This was a great example of leveraging existing resources for further good. You will also learn how he got buy-in within his company.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with Andy Beamon, a Senior Vice President at Maximus Federal and MaryAnn Monroe, the Senior Director of Customer Experience for Maximus Federal, to discuss the Government’s focus on delivering a digital first customer experience, but not digital only. In this discussion, they described how digital first but not digital only should be implemented to deliver equitable and inclusive experiences to employees and government customers (e.g., public) when interacting with the government. We described the purpose of driving towards digital first - the benefits to the public, to employees and to the government. While ensuring that all services can be accessed via digital channels, some people don’t have access to digital channels or can’t use digital channels because of language, disabilities, or technology factors.

Other topics discussed include:

1. Technologies necessary to transform digital services 
2. How customer experience strategies are used to continually improve digital services to employees and customers
3. The important role that contact centers play in creating a simple, seamless and secure customer experience

In this episode of “The CX Tipping Point,” Martha Dorris spoke to Nicole Callahan, a Data Analyst for Customer Insights in the Student Experience and Aid Delivery at the Federal Student Aid (FSA) in the Department of Education. Nicole, who has spent her entire career at FSA, shares her passion for “listening to customers” to better understand their experience, pain points, and take action.

Like many, Nicole joined FSA after using the system to become the first in her family to go to college. She began by using social media and sharing the information with her organization through data sessions and even presenting verbatim to the screens by the elevators. Her passion for listening to the customer has grown into the creation of a “voice of the customer” program with monthly data meetings across the organization to analyze, synthesize and determine the actions needed to address prevailing issues.  

Nicole’s early adoption of social media and “listening” won her a 2022 Service to the Citizen Award as the CX Trailblazer of year. Customer experience by its nature is a disruptor and Nicole has pushed boundaries to win the confidence of her colleagues. She shares her recommendations to others for driving change in the government and the important roles you can play as a public servant to the customers you serve.

Learn why it’s important to listen and make real-time changes to your customers.

In this episode of “The CX Tipping Point Podcast,” Martha Dorris talked to Evan Davis, a Senior Vice President at Maximus Federal about “The Importance of Contact Centers in Delivering Excellent, Equitable, and Secure Federal Services.” Contact centers are the hub of digital services and one of the best ways to assess what’s on the mind of your customers and what the reasons for their interactions were. In many instances, when someone contacts the contact center, it’s after trying to solve their problem online or through other options. Therefore, they may be at a very vulnerable time in their lives.  Evan shared the important role that contact centers have in delivering equitable and inclusive services that meet the needs of underserved communities. He also shared how Maximus Federal trains their staff to be empathetic with their customers they are interacting with on behalf of government agencies.  

COVID has exposed numerous gaps in the operations of contact centers.  The public wants answers to their questions that are consistent across channels. Employees may need information as well.  Evan shared how organizations can ensure that the information they deliver is consistent. During COVID, many agencies migrated their contact center staff to remote work when they didn’t believe it would ever be permitted.  Learn how Maximus Federal worked with agencies to migrate their contact center staff to remote work at many of the most important services in the country.

How will contact centers operate in the future? The contact center of the future needs to be considered as agencies are creating their digital services strategies. 

To learn about other CX topics, check out past Citizen Services Newsletters and subscribe here. 

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris talked with Kimberly Walton, formerly the Executive Assistant Administrator for Enterprise Support. Throughout her career, Kimberly has focused her efforts to create a diverse and inclusive workforce. Today, she leads her own consultancy focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).  

In most cases, DEIA is rattled off in a string as if they are all the same thing. Kimberly defined each of these areas and why they are an important element to delivering services to customers. 

President Biden signed Executive Order 13985 on “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government,” on his first day in office.  In addition, DEIA and the Administration’s priorities around empowering employees and delivering excellent, equitable and secure federal services are inextricably intertwined.  Kimberly shared her expertise on the importance of a maturity matrix as a way to identify gaps and provide a roadmap for agencies.  

In the past, diversity and inclusion were primarily discussed in terms of employees but this Administration applies DEIA issues to the way the government delivers services.  DEIA issues were critical as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducted their screenings in airports. Learn what Kimberly recommends for agencies when addressing their DEIA issues.

In this episode of “The CX Tipping Point” Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to Dr. Anne Bailey, Director of Clinical Tech Innovation for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Innovation Ecosystem (IE) and the Immersive Tech Lead for the Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning (OHIL) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  We also spoke to Caitlin Rawlins, Innovation Specialist for the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System within the VA’s Office of Healthcare, Innovation and Learning (OHIL).

As the Immersive Tech Lead, Dr. Anne Lord Bailey expertly works across the Immersive Tech growth lane to encourage VHA employees to think outside of the box and strengthen their innovation muscle around immersive technologies at VHA. VHA, as many other large organizations, can oftentimes be siloed, with multiple people unknowingly working to solve the same problem. 

The Immersive Tech team works collaboratively to simulate, scale, and sustain immersive technology innovation at VHA with the goal of improving the lives of employees and Veterans. As immersive technology is implemented across VHA, the data on Veteran benefits speak for themselves. Dr. Bailey and Caitlin Rawlins shared the experiences and successes of using immersive technologies and how using XR as a distraction tool helps to decrease pain, stress and anxiety, boredom and restless behaviors while also aiding relaxation. For Veterans suffering from acute and chronic pain, 61% saw a drop in pain intensity. One hundred percent of Veterans using XR to aid with restless behaviors felt a decrease in restlessness, and 67% of those Veterans also exhibited an increase in calm and cooperative behavior.

They shared their recommendations for creating an innovative culture to bring new ways of thinking into any organization.

Dr. Anne Bailey and Caitlin Rawlins are 2022 Service to the Citizen Award winners!