Government agencies that engage their constituents perform more efficiently, concludes new Economist Intelligence Unit report

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2007-12-11 08:40

Hong Kong--(뉴스와이어)--Many businesses have believed for years that the level of engagement they can create with their customers is a key factor to success. Now, government agencies are beginning to share that view, according to The engaged constituent: Meeting the challenge of engagement in the public sector, a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report, published in two parts, is based on a global online survey of 376 executives from government and other parts of the public sector conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Adobe Systems Incorporated. Although most respondents believe constituent engagement is important, most also believe their agency could improve its level of engagement. In fact, only 25% of executives surveyed believe their constituents are deeply engaged with their agency.

Cultivating greater constituent engagement is emerging as a key priority in many governments around the world. A total of 36% of respondents agree that a lack of constituent engagement interferes to a large extent with their agency’s ability to perform well, and 44% say it interferes with this ability to some extent. Many agency managers believe a lack of constituent engagement costs their agency millions of dollars every year: Fifty-eight percent say it costs more than 5% of their annual budget. Respondents’ estimates of loss averaged more than 10% of the annual budget·a sizeable figure, since more than 90% of those surveyed have annual budgets exceeding $10m a year, with nearly 29% of respondents having budgets of $1bn or more.

“Like their business counterparts, public-sector executives are discovering the benefits of engagement,” says Kim Andreasson, senior editor, Americas, Industry & Management Research at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “Public-sector agencies are finding that constituent engagement programmes can not only help them increase efficiency and save money, but also enhance participation, compliance, and constituent satisfaction.”

Other key findings of the report include:

· Agencies are planning to use technology to boost engagement. Over the next five years, 41% of government executives plan to improve their agency’s data tracking, 39% hope to integrate their services or portals for their customers’ ease of use, and 28% intend to offer a more consistent experience to their users.

· Public-sector attitudes toward engagement differ from the private sector. Government executives surveyed believe that transparency and accountability (63%), faster processing times (60%), and increased service use (59%) would be the top gains from greater engagement. By contrast, in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s March 2007 study (also sponsored by Adobe Systems), Beyond loyalty: Meeting the challenge of customer engagement, most business executives believed that customer engagement would boost customer loyalty (80%), revenue (76%), and profits (75%).

· Potential cost savings is not a top motivator for raising engagement levels. Although many respondents believe that more engagement would cut costs, they simultaneously viewed cost savings as only the sixth most important benefit from a rise in engagement levels. Business executives reached similar conclusions in the March 2007 report, seeing increased revenue and profits as the most important gains as opposed to cost savings.

“Today, individuals and businesses expect government organizations to provide interaction and information to them anytime, anywhere and through any medium,” said Rob Pinkerton, director of government solutions at Adobe. “By leveraging engagement technologies, government agencies can forge stronger connections with their constituencies and provide higher quality public service.”

The two parts of The engaged constituent: Meeting the challenge of engagement in the public sector are available free of charge at

www.eiu.com/sponsor/AdobeSystems/TheEngagedConstituent/

Notes for editors

The engaged constituent: Meeting the challenge of engagement in the public sector is a two-part Economist Intelligence Unit briefing paper, sponsored by Adobe Systems. The research is based on an online survey of 376 executives, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in August and September 2007, as well as in-depth interviews with public-sector experts from around the world about the level of constituent engagement. The majority worked for agencies with annual budgets of over US$100m. Nearly a quarter, 23%, came from agencies whose budgets range from US$100m to US$500m, while 16% came from agencies with US$500m to US$1bn budgets, 14% with budgets of US$1bn to US$5bn, and 15% with budgets over US$5bn. A total of 80% of respondents ranked themselves as senior managers or above.

About the Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit is the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist. Through our global network of more than 650 analysts and contributors, we continuously assess and forecast political, economic and business conditions in 200 countries. As the world's leading provider of country intelligence, we help executives make better business decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionises how the world engages with ideas and information·anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

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