March 30, 2017
March 30, 2017
Contributor: Susan Moore
Government websites aspire to serve citizens, but many instead present an agency-centric view that frustrates them.
When you visit a government website, chances are you’re probably trying to find a quick and accurate answer to questions you have about services you need. It gets frustrating when you’re presented with an overwhelming amount of information, you have to navigate lots of different departments or a search turns up everything but what you’re looking for.
To address these expectations, government CIOs invest in website modernization projects with the intention of making the site citizen-focused. In reality, once implemented, these sites often mirror organizational inefficiencies and, over time, drift deeper and deeper into that structure.
The user experience standard set by retail sites only extends the gap that many citizens feel exists in their interactions with government.
“Instead of tailoring websites to different users, they fail at being all things to all people by presenting large volumes of information, much of which is irrelevant to the visiting citizen,” says Bill Finnerty, research director at Gartner. “To build a sustainable, trusted relationship with citizens, governments need to build, and then maintain, citizen-oriented websites.”
The good news is that there are four practical actions government CIOs can take to lead their organizations to a citizen-centric website and improve their appeal to constituents.
Join your peers for the unveiling of the latest insights at Gartner conferences.
Recommended resources for Gartner clients*:
*Note that some documents may not be available to all Gartner clients.