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How can you encourage citizens to have their say? Facts and feedback have the power to improve citizen-state relations and service delivery—if you can get them. Discover how omnichannel strategies can help foster more connected and informed communities.
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Public services are constantly evolving—new governments, policies and digitalisation efforts can drastically alter the landscape. Amidst these changes, the services on offer are frequently compared to private sector service standards. As a result, it’s easy to see how misunderstanding can arise without ongoing transparent, two-way communication.
While passive methods of gathering reactive feedback—such as surveys and forms—remain useful, they often yield polarised and emotionally charged responses. In the realm of contact centres, this feedback can drive service improvement, but more proactive engagement strategies are necessary to truly create citizen-centric services.
This is where citizen engagement comes in. This blog explores how Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions can help public bodies open dialogues, bridge communication gaps, and deliver services that meet the needs of their communities.
Citizen engagement is foundational to creating public services that truly serve their communities. By fostering two-way communication, public bodies can gain valuable insights, foster collaboration, and build stronger relationships with the citizens they represent.
Citizen engagement is the intentional creation of opportunities for two-way communication between public bodies and the citizens they serve. Whether using a brief survey or an in-depth consultation, the core objectives remain the same:
Ideally, citizen engagement is an embedded part of the way public bodies approach their mission and, when well executed, it can build trust, increase transparency, foster inclusivity and even resolve conflicts.
Citizen engagement has evolved beyond traditional methods like town halls and door-to-door surveys. Digitalisation has made it easier for governments to engage citizens actively and passively across various touchpoints:
Better citizen engagement and social accountability (CESA) strategies foster better governance and stronger relationships between citizens and the state. Ultimately of course engagement and collecting feedback is only beneficial if it’s taken into consideration and acted upon. Additional value comes from closing the feedback loop—responding to feedback and providing proof that engagement affects change.
Beyond governmental improvements, citizen engagement empowers individuals to take part in grassroots initiatives, such as social groups and volunteer work. This bottom-up participation can drive meaningful community-led change.
In today’s diverse communication landscape, no single channel can effectively reach or represent everyone. Omnichannel strategies not only bridge that gap but also promote inclusivity by ensuring public bodies can connect with citizens in the way they find most accessible, fostering a more comprehensive and equitable dialogue.
Omnichannel engagement is a cohesive strategy that integrates multiple communication channels to increase opportunity and reduce the effort needed to engage. However, it’s not about duplicating the same content across different platforms. Instead, it’s about using the right channel to reach the right audience with the right message.
For example, conducting a long survey through SMS may well be ineffective. Instead, brief notifications via SMS can direct citizens to more detailed surveys or information arriving via email or accessible via online portals.
Originally designed for managing interactions in customer service departments, CCaaS solutions have evolved. Their current range of features makes them a powerful tool for omnichannel citizen engagement, offering both inbound and outbound communication capabilities. By consolidating interactions from multiple channels—whether they are phone calls, emails, live chat or social media—the platform creates a unified history for each citizen. This comprehensive view helps public bodies interpret feedback accurately, respond appropriately, and address individual concerns effectively.
The comprehensive and robust capabilities of a CCaaS solution improve responsiveness and foster a virtuous cycle of data-driven decision-making, change management, and service analytics. Thanks to this public bodies can continuously refine services to better meet citizen needs.
While the traditional focus of contact centres is on managing citizen interactions, streamlining support services and improving responsiveness, CCaaS solutions can be leveraged to promote broader citizen engagement with the right mindset and targeted campaigns.
In the private sector, agents are often seen as “brand ambassadors.” In the public sector, they can play an even more profound role. When empowered and engaged in specific initiatives, agents can become drivers of institutional change—playing an active role in driving engagement efforts forward. This not only strengthens public trust and improves service delivery but also enhances job satisfaction and morale among agents, as they see the broader impact of their work beyond routine support tasks.
Breaking down data siloes: CCaaS solutions are cloud-based and integrate with existing software like UCaaS and CRM, creating a single source of truth across distant offices and departments. This unified data source allows for focused data analysis, reducing inefficiencies and improving decision-making.
Enhanced accessibility: Omnichannel engagement provides citizens with multiple avenues to engage, from phone calls to self-service portals, ensuring access to support and the opportunity to engage 24/7/365.
Real-time service optimisation: While many institutional changes unfold over the long term, when new services do ‘go-live’ they often require rapid, iterative improvements to maintain service quality. Even the best-laid plans can encounter unforeseen challenges. Real-time data visibility becomes essential during these crunch times, allowing public bodies to quickly monitor performance, adjust routing, and refine in-queue messaging. These rapid-cycle improvements help prevent bottlenecks, ensuring that service delivery remains smooth and responsive to citizen needs during periods of change.
AI and automation: Advanced AI tools, such as Odigo AI Orchestrator, allow administrators to deploy and manage bots effectively. These touchpoints not only improve service efficiency but also generate valuable interaction data that can be analysed to continuously enhance public services. Specific bots can be used to further the goals of citizen engagement through self-service: communicating changes clearly in response to FAQs and capturing real-time responses and reactions through the course of the conversation. This spontaneous input helps public bodies quickly identify trends, address concerns, and adapt services to meet evolving needs.
A great example of digital omnichannel engagement comes from Teignbridge District Council, which adapted to the challenges of COVID-19 to engage its community effectively.
After being awarded Garden Community status to revitalise two adjacent neighbourhoods as “vibrant, mixed-use, communities where people can live, work, and play for generations to come.” they needed sustained community engagement. This was made more challenging by the onset of the pandemic which made traditional, face-to-face engagement impossible.
The council pivoted to digital tools to continue engaging with its citizens:
These efforts allowed the council to gather diverse insights and foster greater community inclusion, bringing voices to the table that might otherwise have been missed. Importantly, the council continued to offer traditional channels, like voice so as not to exclude those who are unable to communicate digitally. The success set a great precedent for future public projects.
While adopting a CCaaS solution for both contact centres and omnichannel citizen engagement strategies can present challenges, the good news is that most issues are manageable with the right provider and a well-structured plan.
Key examples include:
Change management: Staged deployments and proactive change management ensure potential issues are addressed early and corrected as they arise.
Citizen engagement isn’t a magic wand, but it is a powerful tool for steering reform and improving public services. By embracing CCaaS solutions, public bodies can not only enhance service efficiency but also seize opportunities within citizen journeys to promote engagement. Through omnichannel strategies, governments can enhance transparency, strengthen service delivery, and foster a more engaged, participatory public. As change remains a constant in public service, CCaaS offers the flexibility needed to adapt and thrive.
Odigo is a leading European CCaaS provider with a wealth of public sector experience:
David has been a leading member of Odigo’s team in the UK and Ireland since 2021. With over 20 years of experience, David has excelled in various service management and operational roles for leading contact centre software providers. The…
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