Increased efficiency. Shorter wait times. Clearer guidelines. Better online experiences. Enhanced equity. Getting New Yorkers what they need from their state government agencies as smoothly as possible. These are the key motivations behind Governor Hochul’s customer experience initiative, which she announced as part of her 2023 State of the State address.

As part of this initiative, the governor appointed Tonya Webster as New York’s first-ever Chief Customer Experience Officer. In this role, Tonya is charged with reimaging how New Yorkers interact with government, ensuring that essential services are designed around the lives of our customers, rather than the complexity of bureaucracy. 

On this episode, the first of a multi-part miniseries on customer experience, we are fortunate to sit down with Tonya to discuss how to reduce friction when accessing government services, as well as how ITS is poised to help her Office drive the customer experience revolution in New York.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.