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Citizen services: Human-centered by design

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Public sector organizations globally are increasingly moving citizen services online to improve access and create more sustainable cities and communities. But building these services does not automatically mean citizens can or will use them.

At Capgemini, we partner with public sector organizations globally to design, test, iterate and run digital services that put citizens at the center. So you can meet the needs of your users today while preparing for the eGovernment of tomorrow: services organized around the important events in citizens’ lives.

Citizen Services

Human-centered by Design

Solving common problems through human-centered design

To be effective, digital services need to meet the needs of their target audience – which only happens if you apply human-centered design. 

Often, though, silos and differing levels of digital transformation prevent public sector organizations from adopting this approach. So, they risk simply transferring the limitations of an offline service into a digital environment, with correspondingly low adoption and satisfaction rates.

Capgemini’s Citizen Services: Human-Centered by Design can help. By placing users at the center of the design process, it allows us to identify and address the needs and pain points of citizens. The result is an accessible, inclusive and user-centric service with high adoption and satisfaction levels.

“Only one third (33%) of administrations in Europe actively invite citizens to have a say in the digital design of a service.”

eGovernment Benchmark 2022

Three benefits of our approach

Traditional design approaches sidestep critical user feedback, which can result in a white elephant. By being agile and adaptable, we create a cycle of continuous improvement – constantly testing our most critical hypotheses and acting on the insights.

Our breadth of experience globally means we know what’s needed at every stage of the design process – from discussing policy to designing, implementing and managing a live service. And we can share best practice from your peers around the world for the problem you want to address.

The service we build will solve your immediate problem and meet your users’ needs. But by making the user experience consistent with the rest of government, and feeding design insights into our Life Event Framework, we can also build a bridge to the eGovernment of the future.

Putting citizens at the heart of digital services

Underpinning our approach is a passion for discovering what citizens really need, across a wide range of population groups. This allows us to design a service from a position of empathy and understanding.

But gaining that understanding is only the start. We use agile techniques to continually test and iterate our design – refining it to reflect our growing understanding of user needs and resolve any issues we uncover. The outcome: an efficient and cost-effective service that achieves what you want it to.

Four steps to designing human-centered citizen services

We engage with users to understand their needs and whether those align with your policy goal. We identify pain points in the current user journey, along with any legal and tech constraints. And we apply best practice to suggest realistic opportunities for addressing user issues and needs.
 

We design prototypes and test them with users in to see which concept best meets their needs. This allows us to validate our most critical hypotheses and pivot, tweak or even stop before you spend any more money.

We use your infrastructure and technology to build, test and refine a version that is as close to the live service as possible, but without the volume of users. We then check you have the internal processes needed to support a full launch.

We make your service live, building in feedback mechanisms as well as monitoring user analytics. We use this insight-driven approach to keep improving your service so it is even more consistent, transparent and effective. 

Effective eGovernment in action

    HMRC becomes the first tax authority in the world to launch open banking payments

    HMRC, with support from Capgemini, develops a ”Pay by bank account” service, enabling individuals and businesses to pay taxes directly from their own accounts to HMRC, eliminating costly card charges

    Read more
    HMRC quickly implemented a solution to enable eligible self-employed worker

    HMRC rapidly enables financial support for millions of the UK’s self-employed

    In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, HMRC quickly implemented a solution to enable eligible self-employed workers in the UK to claim a grant to mitigate the impact to their income

    Read more

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      “When we develop citizen services, we apply what we’ve learnt from over 10 years of delivering human-centered digital services for governments globally. In doing so, we can take clients a step closer to their North Star: a life-event framework that truly puts citizens at the center.”

      Sandeep Kumar, Head of Future of Technology practice for Capgemini Invent in the UK

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      Meet our experts

      Nia-Roberts Capgemini Invent

      Nia Roberts

      Senior Manager, Digital Factories – Business Technology – Capgemini Invent UK
      “Putting citizens at the heart of public services needs to be a top priority for governments in order to ensure that citizens’ needs are being met. Our tried and tested life-event framework empowers governments globally to deliver human-centric services that are inclusive and accessible to anyone who needs to use them, while providing value for public money.”
      Amandine - Tristani Capgemini Invent

      Amandine Tristani

      Senior Consultant, Capgemini Invent
      “We leverage our extensive experience in the public sector to help governments build human-centered services, reshaping them around life events. A life event framework enables citizens’ needs to be anticipated and proactively serviced in an accessible and compassionate manner that takes into consideration their individual circumstances.”
      Grant-Phillip Capgemini Invent

      Grant Phillip

      Manager, Digital Factories – Business Technology – Capgemini Invent UK
      “Using our extensive experience in designing and developing citizen services, we have built a human-centered design approach that will work for all, encompassing best practice from across geographies. Our approach helps clients focus on investing in services that will be cost-effective but most importantly add value for our users.”

      Sandeep Kumar

      Head of Portfolio & Enterprise Transformation
      “When we develop citizen services, we apply what we’ve learnt from over 10 years of delivering human-centered digital services for governments globally. In doing so, we can take clients a step closer to their North Star: a life-event framework that truly puts citizens at the center.”