Customer experience has become the real performance metric
In today’s federal IT environment, successful service delivery is measured by how well agencies deliver positive customer experiences. Surprisingly, this has less to do with technical expertise and more to do with people skills like empathy and strong communication abilities.
I’ve witnessed this truth from both perspectives. Earlier in my career, I worked in digital services at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where I played a key role in establishing what those measurements should involve. Today, as a contractor focused on IT service delivery and user experience, I’m the one meeting those expectations. A significant part of this work involves coaching support staff, because positive customer feedback satisfies the contracting officer representative. Satisfied CORs ensure contract renewals and job security for teams. This goes beyond my own experience. The federal government has transformed customer experience from an optional extra into something required by law and contract.
As Federal News Network has covered, the Office of Management and Budget is uniting agencies to push forward with CX advancements, and linking funding from the Technology Modernization Fund directly to initiatives that shorten wait times and streamline federal services. The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience (IDEA) Act and the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act have made it clear that a citizen’s feelings about their interaction now play a significant role in how performance is evaluated.
For any contractor working with a federal agency, their Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) scores depend on this.
Negative trends
Our training sessions covered workflow enhancements, empathy, and interpersonal skills. I personally reviewed every piece of negative feedback that came through, and here is what I discovered: People were rarely angry when a technical problem couldn’t be resolved as planned. Their frustration stemmed from feeling mistreated during the process.
When a network administrator needed to hand off an issue to the vendor, people were understanding. When a desktop technician had to reinstall a laptop and reconstruct a user profile from the beginning, people were tolerant. However, when that same technician didn’t provide any progress updates, failed to introduce themselves at the outset of contact, or wrapped up a case without a follow-up check-in, the feedback turned unfavorable and the COR was calling before lunch. The user interface was also a factor: When people couldn’t figure out the support portal, we got harshly worded complaints.
Very rarely was the actual technical work the problem. Almost without exception, the human connection surrounding that work was the real concern. Once this trend became evident in the reports, I shifted my focus from pressuring site supervisors and began creating more targeted training programs.
Communication basics are anything but basic
I worked with technicians on how to properly engage with the people they were helping. Many struggled with basic communication practices. Introducing themselves properly through Microsoft Teams or in an email felt unfamiliar to them, and the simple habit of using someone’s name or ending with a contact signature was frequently overlooked.
Starting conversations on the right foot was a primary emphasis. A straightforward greeting like, “Hello Mr. Banks, my name is Henry and I’ve been assigned to help with your printer issue. I’d like to set aside 15 minutes to look into it. Would 2 p.m. today work for you?” That brief message communicates who they are, what they’ll handle, what it involves, and shows consideration for the person’s schedule. It appears straightforward, yet these touches were absent when I reviewed case records.
The follow-up message was equally important. Before finalizing a case, a quick message: “I’ve verified the solution on my end. Could you check that everything is functioning properly on yours before I wrap this up?” That one practice notably improved our satisfaction ratings. The person felt acknowledged and valued, even though the technical resolution itself stayed the same. They were included in the process rather than something the fix simply occurred around.
The most significant takeaway: I realized that technicians believed their role was simply to handle tasks and finalize cases. I transformed that mindset and guided them to see that delivering quality service was equally as essential as the technical side of their role.
Federal CX success
To reinforce this point, I directed technicians to a federal CX achievement they could relate to. The Department of Veterans Affairs, identified as a High-Impact Service Provider (HISP) and a leading agency for governmentwide CX progress, has raised veteran confidence from roughly 50% of users in 2016 to above 80% in current surveys. VA executives have attributed this improvement to investments in employee development and education that goes beyond role-specific abilities, incorporating interpersonal competencies like communication and emotional awareness. Team members are instructed to sincerely care about the veteran’s experience, and that deliberate attention to the way an encounter shapes someone’s perception is what distinguishes the standouts from the rest.
The path forward
For companies delivering IT services to federal agencies, empathy and emotional awareness may ultimately matter more than pure technical aptitude. Why? Because connecting with what customers need is what creates exceptional outcomes.
Customer experience is the complete impression someone takes away after every interaction within the contract, from the design of the support portal to the speed of case assignments to whether the solution stayed intact. User experience, meaning the layout of the digital platforms and tools people actually use, is one portion of that experience. Customer service, referring to the direct personal engagement when someone requires assistance, is the other. Both of these elements shape CX outcomes in support agreements. Technical expertise continues to be necessary, but educating the upcoming group of federal IT specialists must prioritize empathy and interpersonal capabilities. Those are the elements that truly drive business results.
Recruit for mindset. Build with customers in mind. Develop for competence.
Dr. Tori Reddy Dodla, formerly the lead digital officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, is the founder of Dodla Digital, a federal IT services company.
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