The CX Tipping Point®

In this episode, Martha Dorris talked with the 2024 Service to the Citizen Award’s Government Executive of the Year (Ken Corbin) and the Industry Executive of the Year (Lee Becker).  Ken Corbin is the Commissioner of Taxpayer Services and formerly the Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Lee Becker, is a Senior Vice President for Public Sector and Healthcare for Medallia. Ken has many decades of experience at the IRS where he began as a student at the age of 16.  Lee Becker was formerly on active duty in the Navy, followed by the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Now, Lee serves the government through his position at Medallia.

This is an inspiring episode with two leaders who shared:

1. Their journey through their careers and leadership lessons they learned along the way
2. How focusing on the experience you provide to your customers improves trust in your organization and service
3. The challenges that they have faced throughout the years and recommendations on overcoming them
4. How to navigate changes in Administrations
5. How the public will interact with the government in 5 years from looking into their crystal ball.

We will be celebrating their accomplishments at the 2024 Service to the Citizen Awards on September 13, 2024, at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC. 

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to Chad Thyes, the President of Adonde LLC. Chad has many years of experience in the management and operation of contact centers and worked in many of the contact centers that deliver some of the most important services that the federal government delivers to the public.

In this episode, Chad shares his insights into the:

1. Importance of contact centers to the government’s ability to provide information and services to the customers of the government
2. Tools and technology that can drive improvements in service delivery in contact centers
3. Strategies for addressing workforce issues
4. How the government can leverage the data from contact centers to improve the digital experiences and improve the overall success   
5. Recommendations on how to overcome challenges that the government faces when acquiring, managing and operating contact centers

To contact Chad, he can be reached at [email protected].  

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to Dr. Bill Brantley, President and Chief Learning Officer (CLO) for Brantley Advanced Social Sciences Application (BASSA). Bill began his government career as a Presidential Management Fellow.  I worked with Bill many years ago in the US General Services Administration’s Office of Intergovernmental Solutions. 

Bill’s expertise and experience in innovation, program management and learning bring a different perspective and lens to the discipline of customer experience. In this episode, we talked about a few of his recent LinkedIn posts on:

• “Combining value streams, customer experience, process mining and storytelling to improve business processes,” and
• “Overemphasis on Generational Differences.” 

We also discussed how artificial intelligence is being used to improve customer experience.  Bil is a regular speaker on these topics.

Follow Dr. Brantley on LinkedIn.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to Dana Chisnell, the Executive Director of the Customer Experience Directorate and Stephanie Moore, the Program Manager for the implementation of Executive Order 14058 on “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government” in the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is dedicated to transforming their most impactful services to meet the needs of the 1 billion touch points a year. As stated in the 2023 CX Annual Report, DHS believes that better customer experience means that the touch points they have with the public are more secure, equitable, efficient, effective and accessible for everyone.   

In this episode, you will learn how DHS:

• Is creating a department that is human-centered
• Has created and staffed a Customer Experience Directorate that included over 70 experts.
• Has created alignment between the agency’s strategic plan and their information technology strategy and across headquarters and the eight operating components and on improving the services they deliver
• Is driving culture change and building their internal capacity for modernizing services and improving customers’ experience across the 8 operating components  
• Is impacting the lives of their customers and users, including the public, travelers, businesses, non-citizens in the immigration process, disaster survivors, and more.

At the core, customer experience and human centered design isn’t an initiative.  It’s about creating a human centered organization that embeds customer-focused thinking into every aspect of operations.  It’s about a way of thinking and working that addresses issues and finds solutions for the people they serve.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point, Martha Dorris spoke to Leilani Martínez, the Director of the Public Experience Portfolio and Marietta Jelks, a Product Manager of USAGov in GSA’s Technology Transformation Services.

Last year, the Public Experience Portfolio was identified as a high impact service provider (HISP).  It strives to unify, improve, and standardize the experience the public has interacting with the Federal government. The Public Experience Portfolio operates USAGov, a program that connects people with government information more than 113 million times a year through websites (USAGov and USAGov en español), social media, email, and phone calls and chats to the USAGov Contact Center.

In this episode, you will learn about:

1. The history of USAGov and its value in delivering information and services to the public
2. The recent upgrade of USAGov and the process used to engage its customers
3. The role of USAGov in delivering services at pivotal life events
4. USAGov’s role in meeting the needs of underserved populations

Monitor the progress as the Public Experience Portfolio prepares to transition Benefits.gov to USAGov and continues to provide information and services in English and Spanish.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point, Martha Dorris spoke to the CEO of BRAV017 and formerly the Chief Customer Officer at the US Department of the Air Force and Space Force, Colt Whittall.

After experience in the private sector, Colt wanted to work in the government in the area of technology and management. He was able to secure a position after seeking advice from the CIO of the Air Force. They created a Chief Experience Officer in the Air Force to raise the bar on user experience for their systems.  His efforts in the AF are being replicated in the Department of Defense.

The Air Force’s focus on customer and user experience bubbled up from internal computer issues such as long reboot times. There was an open letter on LinkedIn from an airman referred to as the “Fix my computer” memo that elevated the importance of fixing their systems and computers and led to the hiring of Colt. These issues make airmen question when you can’t fix the small things, you begin to question whether the important things can be accomplished.  

Colt describes his roles and responsibilities, how data and feedback provide a good framework for measurement and mechanisms for tracking experience and feedback. Colt’s journey into the government resulted in a very rewarding experience and an offer to help others get into the government.  Please contact him via LinkedIn if you want to chat.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris talked with Nilufer Erdebil, the Founder and CEO of Spring2Innovation Design Thinking.  Nilufer is a leading consultant of innovation and design thinking with expertise in telecommunications, defence, application development, project management, and information technology management in the public sector.

Nilufer shares her expertise and experience at working in design in Ottawa, Canada.  We discuss the importance of bringing users into the design process and many examples of how design creates more effective and efficient systems.  As a systems engineer, Nilufer designed a system without bringing users into the process.  Later, when she became a user of the system, she understood the value of design thinking.  She has a unique perspective as a designer coming from a technology background.

Learn from her years of experience in government and industry. Nilufer has shared her experience as a Tedx speaker as well.

Check out her book on design thinking at:  Future Proofing by Design

Follow Nilufer on X (formerly Twitter):  @digitalNil  

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with the Acting Chief Customer Officer at the US General Services Administration. Camille Tucker has worked in the Chief Customer Office since 2018 and currently is dual hatted as the Lead for their Voice of the Customer Program and the Acting Chief Customer Officer. For anyone planning to create a Chief Customer Office, Camille shared how the office was originally funded and created, its current funding strategy, how the organization is structured, their primary goals, interesting staffing strategies and lessons learned over the past eight years. 

GSA’s Chief Customer Office was one of the first customer offices created to focus on customers. Over time, they have trained many GSA employees on design thinking and have focused on their digital properties and addressing issues addressed in 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA).  Now, five years after IDEA was enacted, OMB has released guidance on “Delivery Digital First Public Experiences.” Learn how the guidance has impacted GSA.

Learn more about the future goals and strategies in GSA’s Chief Customer Office.

In this episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke with Noreen Hecmanczuk, a Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagements and Communications to the Federal CIO, Clare Martorana.  In this episode, Noreen shared her experiences that crossed numerous federal agencies and led to an opportunity as a White House Fellow, later joining the US Digital Service where she recognized the transformative potential of technology in government services.  As a senior advisor to the Federal CIO, Noreen convenes technology leaders to advance the strategic use of technology and improve the public’s experience with the government. In the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, she develops strategies for technology modernization and mission delivery, driving a path to digital transformation and overseeing the responsible management of over $120 billion of federal IT spending.

Noreen’s achievements benefit the public by championing simple, seamless and secure experiences when interacting with government services.  Congress requested OMB’s plan to maximize the impact of funds allocated for technology modernization, and Noreen led the development of the Federal IT Operating Plan, ensuring wise investments that create the most impact for the American people.  Additionally, she played a key role in allocating $100 million towards a secure, modern, digital-first government experience, engaging CX experts from across the federal government to maximize the impact of project proposals.

From ensuring food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fostering workforce development at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Noreen has made significant contributions throughout her career.  Noreen shares her insights in working across federal agencies, working with political appointees to achieve a common vision, and the leadership and vision needed to lead agencies towards reducing the Administrative burdens of outdated policies.  

Congratulations to Noreen for her 2023 Service to the Citizen Award!

In this Special Edition Episode of The CX Tipping Point Podcast, Martha Dorris spoke to industry experts and practitioners in the field of Government Customer Experience (GovCX).  You will hear from:

• Mary Swartz, ICF Next
• Lee Becker, Medallia
• Rachel Schwind, ASI Government
• Amanda Chavez, NuAxis Innovations

This episode was recorded on the 2nd anniversary of Executive Order 14058, Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government.”  We discussed the impact that having a President’s Management Agenda and Executive Order that focuses on CX which has impacted the government’s focus, progress and maturity.  We also reinforced the importance of improved services to the public, to the government and its employees and to the country.  We delved deeper into progress made over the past five years, the governance models used in the government to drive improved services, the importance of service delivery to improving trust in government and the drivers of trust. We continued with understanding your customer, the business value of CX, and measurement. 

It was a lively and informative conversation with these industry leaders. Listen to a very real conversation about the benefits of improving government services.