Centering Taxpayer CX: IRS Appoints Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer
Centering the tax paying experience for citizens is a positive step forward to respecting their time and value.
With the convergence of marketing and innovation across many industries, the concept of enhancing the customer experience (CX) in the commercial space has fully taken hold – and now government is headed in this direction. Much of these efforts come in the form of updating digital offerings and websites to better meet citizens’ needs, with the goal of enhancing engagement and service delivery.
In 2020, federal agencies made tremendous CX strides. According to Forrester’s 2020 U.S. Federal Customer Experience Index, 15 key agencies and programs earned an average score of 61.1 out of a possible 100, which is up 1.4 points from 2019. To date, this is the highest score government has received in this index. The National Park Service (NPS), the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, Medicaid, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and the IRS all made statistically significant gains in 2020 – with NPS scoring on par with commercial banks.
Driven by key performance indicators from the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience (IDEA) Act, federal agencies are already taking steps to improve overall CX in 2021 -- while also adhering to the Fed CX Mandate, which operates under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) A-11 Section 280 guidance. For example, as part of its overall updated digital strategy, various Health and Human Services Department (HHS) program offices will be getting graded on a “CX scale” this year.
In addition, the IRS recently announced that Ken Corbin, currently the IRS Wage and Investment commissioner, will become the agency’s new chief taxpayer experience officer as part of its planned multiyear modernization effort. This is the first time the IRS has ever appointed this role, further highlighting the agency’s commitment to CX. According to a recent IRS press release, this is the first senior leadership role created within the IRS under the Taxpayer First Act framework. The goal of this effort is to re-imagine the taxpayer experience, enhance employee training and restructure the organization to increase collaboration and innovation.
As highlighted by this recent Federal News Network article, agencies will need to intertwine their online services with updated applications and IT infrastructure to meet CX goals. The potential CX use cases for government are limitless and can have a positive impact on citizens and constituents. Raza S. Latif, President at NuAxis Innovations, Makpar’s SBA-approved mentor, recently published this LinkedIn article, which discusses how CX has the power to enlighten and help people through difficult times.
CX is a key area where industry partners can come into play to help agencies further evolve their capabilities. For example, Makpar has more than a decade of experience in high-level strategic and project management services with a focus on cutting-edge technologies and application development. We have enabled the IRS to create and scale an external user identity verification shared service. This provides citizens access to online services in a manner that promotes confidence, privacy, choice, and innovation while providing for significant cost-savings to the agency when compared to traditional communication channels such as written correspondence, phone calls, or in-person visits to Tax Assistance Centers. Working as a true partner with our clients, Makpar’s comprehensive IT program management offerings focus on people, processes, goals, and results to bring CX to life for government.
Contact us here for more information on how we can help you start your government CX journey.