NSW customer strategy

Read the 'Towards customer-centric government' strategy.

Delivering the NSW Government’s 2030 vision

The NSW Government’s vision is to become the world’s most customer-centric government by 2030.

Who are NSW Government customers?

  • Anyone who lives, works, visits or invests in NSW, including businesses, are customers of the NSW Government.
  • Customers may interact with NSW Government under different circumstances: because they want to, or because they have to.
  • In some cases, customers may not directly interact with government at all, but instead receive the benefits of policy and regulation such as clean environments and safe neighbourhoods.

Who is part of the delivery chain?

  • Staff, government agencies and service delivery partners play an important role in the public service delivery chain, which benefits the end users: customers.
  • The principles of good customer experience (Customer Commitments) apply to the interactions between regulators and regulated entities; with the community being the primary customer.

Why is being a customer-centric government important?

  • Good customer experiences can save effort and give time back to customers.
  • More importantly, better or worse customer experiences directly impact the delivery of the outcomes that the NSW Government has committed to the people of NSW:
    • Service uptake, and the fulfilment of obligations and entitlements, increase when customer experiences encourage active engagement with government services.
    • Escalations and crisis situations decrease, and wellbeing grows, when service quality meets customer needs.
    • Service effectiveness continuously improves when services are designed and refined using data, customer and behavioural insights.
  • Additionally, customer-centric governments experience greater budget efficiency and productivity. They avoid waste on what doesn’t have impact and see returns on investment through improved customer compliance, reduced cost of escalations, and reuse of service delivery models in providing a connected experience.

Being customer-centric means that government is there for people and businesses when they need support, is easy to deal with, and works hard in the background to keep making their lives better.

NSW customer strategy cover page

Read this webpage version of the strategy or download (PDF 1.58MB) a version.

Customer impact

As the  world's most customer-centric government, customers will regard NSW public services as trustworthy, effective and easy.

Trusted

Customers are confident the NSW Government is working in their best interests. 

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Customers:

  • have a say in what matters to them and see outcomes that reflect community involvement
  • trust government is working in customers’ best interests, with evidence showing benefits to customers
  • experience a transparent and open government that protects customers’ privacy and data.

Effective

Results for customers are being delivered.

Ribbon

Customers:

  • receive responsive and safe services that anticipate needs
  • are confident services cater for diverse NSW customers, delivered by a public service that mirrors this diversity
  • know government is accountable to customers for the outcomes it delivers.

Easy

The NSW Government is easy to deal with.

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Customers:

  • receive high quality experiences, regardless of the interaction or agency
  • clearly understand their obligations, options and entitlements
  • experience the simplest path to get something done.

Customer framework

The NSW Government will put the customer at the centre of everything that it does to achieve high quality customer outcomes and world-leading customer experiences.

Research into leading global organisations shows that improved customer experiences can be achieved by  focusing on five key areas:

  1. Understand customer needs based on data and insights.
  2. Prioritise based on what creates the most impact for customers.
  3. Deliver a seamless and high quality experience to customers.
  4. Engage with customers meaningfully on priorities for the future.
  5. Embed a customer service culture across the public service.
NSW Government customer framework diagram. The customer framework is made up of 5 linked themes - understand, prioritise, deliver, engage and culture.

Understand

A customer-centric government maintains deep knowledge of customers’ expectations, experiences, behaviours and outcomes; and routinely uses customer insights to inform decision-making.

Insights

Government understands customers when:

  • NSW Government has a shared evidence base of customers’ experiences, behaviours and sentiments, from which to jointly diagnose challenges and agree on solutions
  • service system efficiency is driven by identifying the customer experience factors that impact policy outcomes throughout a customer’s life
  • the diversity of NSW Government customers is accounted for and informs action.

Performance

Government understands customers when:

  • meaningful metrics with diagnostic power are used to track and course correct to achieve goals
  • predictive models are used to understand the impact of options on current and future customers’ experiences and outcomes.

Data

Government understands customers when:

  • customer experience data is collected as close to real time as possible
  • customer experience data is securely and transparently shared across government.
Immediate focus areas
  • Ensure the customer experience of all NSW Government customer-facing services is measured
  • Establish the Customer Insights Hub, underpinned by the Customer Experience Survey and Subjective Wellbeing Survey and service-level customer experience data stored in the Data Analytics Centre
  • Identify and develop state significant data assets – data sets that are comprehensive and beneficial across government – and the supporting governance to manage those data assets 
     

Prioritise

A customer-centric government drives investment and activity towards the things that matter most.

Evidence

A customer focus has been integrated into government decision-making when:

  • the relative impact of customer experience opportunities and critical trade-offs across the broad range of government activity is known and used to frame prioritisation discussions.

Decision-making

A customer focus has been integrated into government decision-making when:

  • ‘customer impact’ is considered alongside financial and operational measures when marginal and overall government funding and policy decisions are made
  • submissions and business cases explicitly outline the anticipated customer benefit, and how evidence for customer impact will be measured in the most timely way possible.

Evaluation

A customer focus has been integrated into government decision-making when:

  • customer impact and outcomes are routinely assessed through evaluations.
Immediate focus areas
  • Embed customer experience in the Outcome Budgeting framework through inclusion of relevant indicators
  • Implement Customer Insights Dashboard to support ministerial decision-making 
  • Strengthen the requirement to include customer impact, and how it will be measured, in all business cases and submissions to Government
  • Strengthen the Digital Restart Fund prioritisation and investment in customer-centric initiatives, led by the Customer Council

Deliver

A customer-centric government reliably delivers high quality services that provide outcomes for its customers.

Brand

Customer-centric services are delivered when:

  • NSW Government services are recognised by customers to be trustworthy, effective and easy; and brought to life through all customer interactions.

Seamless

Customer-centric services are delivered when:

  • services and information are delivered through seamless ‘life journeys’ that get customers to an outcome
  • integrated processes ‘Make Government Easy’, and customers don’t have to know how government is structured to get something done
  • customers can easily prove their identity digitally to access a range of services across government.

Proactive

Customer-centric services are delivered when:    

  • customer needs are proactively anticipated, with consent. Customers know government will inform them of their options, obligations and entitlements
  • government works with partner organisations that represent the community
  • government anticipates and responds to barriers for customers accessing government services, such as language, cultural, disability and other accessibility barriers.

Safe

Customer-centric services are delivered when:

  • customers feel protected through the provision of services that are safe and trusted
  • systems are secure, with robust cyber security controls and action protocols for managing risks and breaches.

Responsive

Customer-centric services are delivered when:

  • place-based services are delivered to respond to complex, interrelated or challenging issues faced by customers
  • accessible enquiry, feedback, and complaints handling processes are always available
  • government holds itself accountable to customers for services being delivered.
Immediate focus areas
  • Accelerate the Premier’s Priority of Government Made Easy and the Life Journeys program 
  • Apply the customer commitments to all service interactions, to meet the promise of a consistent, high quality experience every time
  • Continue to grow the personalised and bundled customer care model developed by Service NSW through bushfires and COVID-19
  • Accelerate the transition of online transactions to Service NSW
  • Apply the NSW Design System’s design standards to all online channels for a consistently high quality customer experience 

Engage

Meaningfully engaging with customers helps government provide better policies and services.

Community involvement

Customers are engaged meaningfully when:

  • individuals, businesses and communities help shape priorities for the future. This may include government engaging on the design of services, policies, and projects, and where appropriate, the allocation of budgets
  • recognisable and accessible engagement channels are available to diverse customers
  • customers have a sense of ownership of the outcomes that reflect  their involvement.

Effective communication

Customers are engaged meaningfully when:

  • government continuously communicates with customers to inform how their feedback has been incorporated in shaping government initiatives
  • NSW Government demonstrates how it is delivering on its commitment to customers to become the world’s most customer-centric government. Results are publicly shared, ensuring accountability.

Easy to navigate

Customers are engaged meaningfully when:

  • government information and data is consolidated via nsw.gov.au and is easy to navigate, read and source using principles of an open government.
Immediate focus areas
  • Embed the Customer Engagement Platform to further connect with customers on issues across NSW Government
  • Accelerate delivery of nsw.gov.au website consolidation as a single source of trusted and tailored information for customers
  • Roll out the NSW Government Brand Framework, bringing more services under the Waratah brand where appropriate, to support seamless recognition for customers

Culture

Culture is what will sustain and grow a customer-centric government.

Purpose driven

A customer-centric culture is embedded when:

  • an ethos of world-class customer service is built upon the NSW public service’s strong desire to have a positive impact on society
  • each member of the NSW public service understands how their role impacts customers, no matter where they contribute in the delivery chain, and is committed to the concept of customer centricity
  • customer value is created by a collaborative public service that recognises the ‘whole customer’ and where they are in their life or business journey, and their experience of services delivered by a ‘whole government’.

Capability

A customer-centric culture is embedded when:

  • leaders demonstrate and foster a learning culture, promoting collaboration and opportunities to learn-by-doing. Initiatives all along the delivery chain are celebrated
  • public service delivery, and all the processes that underpin it, is driven by a human-centred design mindset which puts customers at the centre
  • technical and cultural barriers to a cycle of data-driven, evidence-informed continuous improvement are removed.

Diversity

A customer-centric culture is embedded when:

  • the government workforce is diverse and reflects the diversity of the wider community
  • government adapts and evolves with the community and businesses as needs change.
Immediate focus areas

  • Secretaries become accountable for ensuring every employee understands how their role impacts customers, supported by leaders and managers. Track this through the People Matter Employee Survey (PMES) 

  • All leaders raise awareness of what customer-centricity means in different contexts of public service delivery, including through stories, events and Communities of Practice 

  • The Public Service Commission embeds a customer focus in senior executive inductions, digital learning platforms and the capability framework 

  • Deliver the Digital and Customer Capability project with clear guidance and tools for customer centricity

Measuring progress towards the vision

A set of indicators will show progress towards the vision and hold government to account.

Indicators will track performance and identify gaps for improvement, across the domains of trusted, effective and easy.
 

Customer promise Proposed set of indicators Target

Trusted

“You are confident government is working in your best interests”

1. Overall customer trust in government

Percentage of customers who agree that NSW Government:

  • improves access to and responsiveness of services
  • effectively informs, consults and listens to customers
  • delivers outcomes that meet their needs
 [Target to be developed when baseline is set]

 

Customer promise Proposed set of indicators Target

Effective

“Your wellbeing is improving, and you are satisfied that government is delivering results where it matters for customers in NSW”

2. Customer wellbeing

Wellbeing as measured by:

  • subjective wellbeing across domains considered most important to people (e.g. standard of living, health, safety, leisure time, quality of environment)
  • objective wellbeing across domains (e.g. economic, home, education and skills, health, social and community, skills, business performance)*
 Increase and maintain subjective wellbeing at greater than 60 points to 2023

3. Customer satisfaction

Customer experience of government services (individuals and businesses)

 Achieve satisfaction score of 8.5 for individuals and 8.3 for business by 2025

 

Customer promise Proposed set of indicators Target

Easy

“Your efforts to engage, access and comply with government services is easy and seamless. Your time is saved and respected”

4. Effort when interacting with government

  • Percentage of customers (individuals and businesses) who believe their experience with government is easy
  • Number of services where customers do not need to repeat information they have already provided to NSW Government

Achieve effort score of 4.6 for individuals and 5.1 for business by 2025

Increase the number of government services where customers only have to ‘tell us once’ to 60 by 2023

 

How indicators will be measured

Trusted, effective and easy indicators will be measured via the following methods and data:

  • Customer Experience Survey launching in 2021 
  • Subjective Wellbeing Survey
  • Agency journey analytics and customer insights data
  • Objective wellbeing statistics via official government sources
  • Digital sentiment
  • Feedback to government, compliments and complaints
  • People Matter Employee Survey (PMES)
  • Community panels.

Governance and responsibilities

The NSW Customer Council will drive implementation.

Here is a breakdown of the roles and responsibilities of departments and agencies with NSW Government.

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NSW Customer Council

  • Drives customer-centricity across whole of government
  • Advises on prioritisation and delivery of high impact customer initiatives across government
  • Drives strategy delivery and ongoing development
  • Monitors progress against KPIs
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Cabinet and Cabinet Committees

  • Approves, monitors and reviews delivery of NSW Government priorities
  • Applies whole of customer lens to government investment decisions
  • Makes funding decisions for Digital Restart Fund
Framework icon

Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Treasury, Public Service Commission, Regional NSW

  • Provides the framework for upskilling the sector’s customer-centric capabilities and behaviours
  • Supports a customer lens in budget and funding decisions
Locations

NSW clusters

  • Implements the strategy across NSW Government including customer initiatives
  • Aligns with common approaches where appropriate and shares learnings across government
Apprentices

Department of Customer Service

  • Supports delivery towards the vision
  • The Information and Privacy Commission oversees public reporting of progress, as an independent expert on privacy and citizen access to government information

Trusted, effective and easy government will be achieved when the Customer Commitments are consistently experienced across NSW Government service interactions.

Contact us

For further information or to provide feedback, please contact the Customer Strategy team using the button below:

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