Coping With the Consequences of Technology

Ever since the Roman Empire, citizens have complained about the quality of government services. In recent times, the argument has centered on whether governments can deliver services as effectively as private corporations. And because citizen expectations are conditioned by the ever-escalating, customer-focused marketing actions of highly competitive private companies, it's no surprise that citizen complaints about poor government service are getting louder.

One possible solution to this citizen challenge is the effective application of technology. As the banking industry discovered with Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) and oil companies found with "pay-at-the-pump" self-service stations, governments across the United States have begun to recognize that technology can be used to improve service to the citizen and lower costs at the same time. And although government executives have awakened to the fact that citizens cannot be served effectively by "business as usual" in today's environment, recent experience in the private sector confirms that there are risks as well as benefits in this strategy.

FIRST TECHNOLOGY BOOM
Since the late 1980s, companies throughout the United States have aggressively leveraged their ability to downsize, consolidate and streamline. Combined with these efforts has been the movement toward customer self-service, whereby automation is used to replace costly human labor. (Remember the days when you always spoke to an operator, not a voice-response unit?) This, along with other factors, has fueled record corporate earnings and a bull market on Wall Street since 1987.

Some have compared corporate America's rush into technology in the 1990s with the early 1920s, when Henry Ford devised the assembly-line process to build the "automobile for the masses," the Model T. The automobile ushered in a new era and radically changed the way people lived. It created suburbia, and it allowed people to travel and see things beyond their once-cloistered communities. It made America mobile, but it also altered close-knit community relationships.

Tremendous positives and negatives were introduced into society by the automobile, and the same can be said for technologies being introduced today.

IS TECHNOLOGY HELPING?
Fast-forward to 1996. There is no question that the Internet and intranets, voice-response units, ATMs, information kiosks and other self-service-enabling technologies are effective. All have been instrumental in helping service organizations better meet the needs of the consumer. Yet unlike government, most private corporations have no mandate to pay attention to the social impacts of introducing these technologies.

I can remember when it was common for neighbors to gather around the bakery truck when hot bread was delivered in their neighborhoods. The milk man was also a familiar face, at least to early risers, as was the young kid who was so proud of his newspaper route. Many of us used to be able to name our favorite bank teller, and could remember the good feelings associated with having a full-service gas station attendant pump our gas. Today, the bakery truck and the milk man are gone, and newspapers are facing growing difficulties in attracting conscientious, reliable delivery persons. And while we may enjoy lower prices today for our bread and milk (after allowances for inflation), something may have been lost as self-service becomes the norm, something that may have helped maintain a sense of community.

STRIKING A BALANCE
There is no doubt that the introduction of technology-enabled self-service can help government meet rising citizen expectations while tightening budgets. On the other hand, governments have an obligation to make their services accessible to all citizens, including the disabled, the illiterate, the aged, and anybody else for whom technology can be a barrier. Even for the technologically sophisticated, a friendly, competent human being is critically important when automated systems fail, as they invariably do now and then. The goal, then, is to strike a balance between automation and human interaction.

The mandate for government executives, therefore, is to remember "high touch" as they embrace "high tech:" to provide an alternate service channel for those who need, or want, human assistance. Such alternate channels can also serve as a "safety net" when emergencies occur or the technology fails for some reason.

Ian D. Temple is program director of GartnerGroup's IT Executive Program for Government.


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