Blackbox Research’s annual Public Service Experience Index (PSXI) has found that Singapore’s public sector organisations are on the right path towards establishing a robust digital ecosystem for citizens.
The overall PSXI for Singapore grew from 37.9 in 2019 to 46.7 in 2020 but dipped to 41.5 in 2021, Blackbox Research said. The decline is attributed in part to the steep digital learning curve during the pandemic, which has made greater digital interaction with public sector organisations an inevitable part of citizens’ daily lives, but has also led to challenges.
Saurabh Sardana, COO, Blackbox Research, believes that the 2021 PSXI scores can, in part, be attributed to the peak-end rule effect. In this context, the peak-end rule refers to the respondents giving a score based on the most intense aspects of their experience with an organisation and how it felt like, at the end.
“In the last two years, Singaporeans had to learn new ways of interacting with the government through digital platforms, channels, and devices. This has been a new and fast-changing experience as people became more accustomed to doing things differently,” he said.
The ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic in the last year have also impacted the pace of digital service evolution, and it is likely that this contributed to lower overall scores in 2021. Moreover, while many Singaporeans expressed general satisfaction with the government’s early-stage rollout of digital services, especially during the peak of the pandemic. Sardana observed that “growing acceptance of the reality of COVID-19 restrictions means that citizens have become more sensitive to and discerning about the level of service they expect from digital government.”
Twelve agencies scored above the 2021 national average, with five agencies scoring in the 50-69 range. The Health Promotion Board (HPB) remains the highest-ranked agency among Singaporeans, with a score of 69.8 in 2021. The second spot went to the National Parks Board (NParks), which secured a score of 66.0, followed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) at 64.2. The Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) round up the top five spots, with scores of 59.9 and 56.8 respectively.
The 2021 PSXI shows that while Singaporeans are mostly aligned in the way they hold public sector organisations in high regard, they have mixed opinions when it comes to assessing whether their specific needs and expectations are being met, Blackbox Research noted.
Said Sardana: “Public sector organisations at all levels need to proactively explore ways to involve Singaporeans in initiatives – to develop a collaborative, responsive, and personalised experience with their constituents. But delivering successful digital services and a positive government customer experience depends on government agencies establishing trust and transparent value propositions that encourage meaningful engagement from a citizen perspective.”
The index also uncovered a generational divide when it comes to navigating the public sector’s digital offerings, with public sector organisations finding greater favour with younger citizens who are digital natives. The 2021 overall PSXI score for the youth is 48.4 and 38.3 amongst seniors.
 |
| Source: Blackbox Research. Digital natives are more pleased with public sector organisations' digital offerings. |
Saurabh noted that “as savvy and connected as older generations may be today, they are still struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of digital transformation and progress. While several public sector agencies are already addressing this head-on through programmes such as Seniors Go Digital, more needs to be done to bridge the divide and ensure that no one is left behind.”
Sardana further commented, “Singapore’s approach to digitalisation of its government services is exemplary in this region. The two-pronged approach of efficiency and effectiveness is evident at every stage of the government’s planning and implementation of its digitalisation plans. COVID-19 has played its part over the two years and feedback from Singaporeans will help even more as we move forward together on this digital journey.”
Explore:
*Established in 2019, the annual PSXI is an all-round composite
index that measures where 30 public sector organisations in Singapore —
ministries, statutory boards, and other agencies — stand in terms of
their digitalisation journeys. It is designed to assess citizens’
satisfaction with digital services and platforms offered by these
organisations.
Covering 2,000 statistically-representative Singaporeans and permanent
residents (PRs), the PSXI aims to track public sector organisations’
digitalisation journeys, benchmarking their progress over time and across three key indicators: impressions, sentiments, and interactions.
The impressions score reflects how well an agency is serving its citizens and the way Singaporeans and PRs perceive different public sector organisations. The higher the score, the higher the organisation’s overall reputation.
The sentiments score reflects how citizens evaluate their experience with an agency and shows their net positive experience with an agency in the last 12 months. The higher the score, the better their experience with the agency.
The interactions score reflects how citizens prefer to transact or interact with an agency – i.e., citizens’ preference for digital versus traditional/in-person channels. The higher the score, the more citizens prefer accessing a service digitally.
Indicator scores are averaged to get a single PSXI score for each public sector organisation. Through this score, the PSXI benchmarks an organisation’s individual digitalisation journey relative to others in the study – capturing the progress made so far and identifying any areas that may require further attention. As such, scores should be read bearing in mind that many external factors — e.g., the nature of the services rendered by an agency, the wide range of populations it serves — are likely to have a significant bearing on the scores, no matter how digitally-enabled an agency may be. The index also tracks progress longitudinally.
No comments:
Post a Comment