Citizen consumers increasingly expect to be able to choose the type of service and level of quality they want. And for these services to be available when they want them, where they want them and tailored to meeting their personal needs.
“Delivering the customer promise” has become the focus for public sector organisations far and wide: the challenge is how to achieve this.
Research into the application of service design principles to public service delivery offers an innovative approach. This involves the active engagement of users in the design and production of services (co-design and co-production) and centres on concepts including the “customer experience”, “touchpoints” and “customer journeys”.
However, there is still much confusion on how to apply good practice in service design and the requisite skills needed. So among the questions our next phase of our ‘Delivering customer-centric services’ research programme will address are:
What are the best practice ways of improving and personalising public service delivery to meet rising customer expectations and a desire for choice and better access to services?
How can users be actively involved in service design and engage with delivery agents to determine not only “what to provide” but also “how to provide”?
What are the significant barriers and enablers to the new ways of working implied by a shift towards the principles of service design?
The extent to which public services are delivered by government or by the private sector varies by type of service and by country. In most countries, government has experimented with introducing markets for the provision of some public services, with varying degrees of competition and contestability.
In many developed economies, the “marketisation” of public services has substantially shifted the public-private interface. In some cases, the focus is still on privatisation of formerly state-owned enterprises and the introduction of Public Private Partnerships. For others, the debate has moved onto outsourcing non-core services and the government’s role in creating of structures which are designed to mimic the workings of a market.
Wherever there is a mixed economy for the delivery of public services, it is critical to have clarity on the role of government as commissioner, purchaser, regulator and/or provider.
Some of the questions our ‘Making public service markets work’ research programme will address are:
What is the role of “strategic” commissioning in public service markets?
What are the real differences between commissioning and traditional procurement?
What are the practical ways of developing an effective commissioning capability?
Delivering public services cost-effectively Read More»
Value for money should be the touchstone for the delivery of public services. Public service providers are continually looking for ways in which to improve performance and reduce costs. However, it is not always an easy task to baseline the costs being targeted and to track and monitor the successful implementation of cost reduction programmes.
To do so requires, first and foremost, an effective finance function. A finance function that is capable of collecting data effectively and efficiently and then turning this into meaningful management information upon which decisions can be taken and progress tracked.
Some of the questions our ‘Delivering public services cost-effectively’ research programme will address are:
How can finance functions achieve value for money through providing better information with which to manage performance and cost, improve the utilisation of assets and simplify activities?
What contribution can shared services, outsourcing and partnering make to the goal of strategic cost management?
How can this information be reported back meaningfully to external stakeholders?
Increasing transparency and accountability Read More»
The delivery of public services is, inevitably and rightly, the subject of scrutiny to ensure that taxpayers’ funds are used appropriately. This can focus on:
Governance to ensure due process in the allocation of taxpayers’ funds.
Value for money to assess the extent to which the funds allocated are then spent in an efficient, effective and economical way.
Fraud and anti-corruption to ensure that public authorities are not negligent in their use of funds.
The key to confidence in any system is that there is transparency in the decision-making process which allocates funding and, once allocated, that there is accountability for subsequent impact. Part of this accountability is the use of targets and other measures against which external stakeholders can assess performance.
Some of the questions our ‘Increasing transparency and accountability’ research programme will address are:
How can public service delivery be made more accountable and transparent to taxpayers and customers?
Sustainability has finally taken centre stage as an issue which individuals, businesses and governments must take seriously. Whether at the World Economic Forum or at discussions within a school or local authority, sustainability is on the agenda in a way that is unimaginable only ten years ago.
There is also a growing realisation that it is not enough to rely on grand gestures at international gatherings to create a sustainable future. Personal and organisational behaviour change is central to the debate. From waste recycling through to food labelling, there is more information, persuasion and incentivisation, as well as sanctions, than ever before.
However, there is still an imperfect evidence base on how people make sustainable choices and the best ways for government to influence those choices.
Some of the questions our ‘Delivering sustainable development/sustainability’ research programme will address are:
What is the right balance of incentives and sanctions?
How can public service organisations provide a lead?
How can sustainability be built into environmental reporting?
Governments across the world are facing ever increasing demands. Changing lifestyles, shifting demographics, globalisation and technological change are placing demands on public service organisations to be more responsive and adaptable to their users’ needs.
This requires nothing less than a transformation in the capabilities and capacity of public sector organisations themselves. This transformation may take many forms: for instance, in the need for strong leadership; organisational development; workforce reform; and skills development.
Every public service organisation should have a clear vision of its purpose and mission and the mechanisms by which it will deploy its resources to achieve its desired outcomes. However, none can stand still and assume that their capacity and capability will always match the not inconsiderable demands of the public.
Some of the questions our ‘Building public sector capabilities’ research programme will address are:
What characterises effective leadership in a public service setting?
What are the new capabilities required for effective service delivery e.g. partnership working, alliance building and delivery chain management?
What will the leading public service organisation of the 21st century look like?
