Government customer service tech tops private sector

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The government is using technology to improve its customer services more effectively than the private sector, but it still has a way to go, according to a report by Accenture.

Previously called the e-government report, the annual customer service report ranks 22 governments on how well they deliver services - increasingly, using various forms of communications technology. The UK has risen to ninth after coming in at 13th last year. Singapore, Canada and the US topped the chart.

Over three-quarters of the survey's UK respondents said they were satisfied with their government services, topping results for all private sector businesses, including utilities, banks and retailers.

"Last year we described the United Kingdom as verging on a dramatic advancement in the provision of government services to its citizens," said Jeremy Oates, managing director of Accenture's UK government practice, in a statement. "The government had just introduced the Transformational Government agenda, a strategy which aimed to provide a framework for delivering value to citizens through new technology, and we looked forward to the action plan that would lay out the government's next steps."

"This year, through the action plan, we see evidence that the government has smart plans for translating its promise into practice, not least that government customer service outperformed all other private sector businesses measured," he added.

The report also looked at how people access government services. We still prefer to contact the government by landline telephone, with 79 per cent of us picking up and dialling to get through. But although 42 per cent of citizens still drop communiqués in the post, a third use the internet and 27 per cent use email.

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