Ernst Kruize and Arne Keuning have previously worked together at the KSF social service expert group, the Marketingfacts Jaarboek and the Social Service Congress. Now they are working together on the realization of a new book about digital customer contact, for which they are looking for appealing cases. Of course we also asked about their personal reaction to the latest plans of D66, which wants to get rid of big tech platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter when it comes to digital customer contact between citizens and government.

 

If we D66 Member of Parliament Keith Verhoeven have to believe, there is a chance that digital customer contact between citizens and government will soon be overhauled.

Cross*: “Personally, I do understand his argument. Stop using the channels, you can arrange that like this. You can explain that you no longer want to communicate through channels of tech platforms that you have no control over. But I can't immediately imagine how you would want to arrange that customer contact differently. Verhoeven's idea mainly raises questions.”
Assessment: “If you read D66's initiative memorandum, the objections are mainly about data, and not about communication between citizens and government. As a member of parliament, Verhoeven should encourage communication between citizens and government, and it is best to use channels that citizens already use.”
Kruize: “The problem also lies in the storage of those contacts. That is difficult for the government, the tech giants store it in their clouds, which may be undesirable.”

 

Are the objections that Verhoeven expresses about these channels new or do you hear about them more often?

Kruize: “I don't hear much about that. I do see innocence when introducing yet another new channel: 'we'll do that for a while'. It is now clear that offering a new channel means that it will be used en masse. For a large municipality, large volumes are easier to arrange than for small municipalities. Just like for small companies, there is no in-between with social media: 'a little' social media does not exist.”
Keuning: “The use of these channels can also be easily arranged, you will have to give clear instructions to citizens about sharing personal data.”

 

Citizens and civil servants do not always seem to adhere to these guidelines; personal data then ends up with commercial companies on American servers. Is that a problem?

Kruize: “If we use private platforms as a public contact channel, we have to understand the consequences. Apart from the ease of use and speed, it is clear that there are drawbacks to this. I wouldn't know how to manage that. The choice would then be: we use it, or not and arrange something else. But you can't go back to just email and phone.”
Keuning: “There are still many governments that do not encrypt their e-mail traffic. The general awareness of how you handle data also plays a role.”
Kruize: “Governments are still reluctant to use cloud solutions – think of Salesforce.com. While the use of social media does not meet resistance. That's strange."

 

Is there a way back: just phone and email?

Keuning: “If you were to take that route, the image of a government as a slow bureaucratic organization with long lead times would be confirmed again. Society is moving in the opposite direction: faster, shorter response times. An alternative solution is therefore not the message box of the government.”

 

 You are going to write a book about digital customer contact. Why is there such a book?

Keuning: “Until now, we provided the chapter on customer contact in the Marketingfacts Jaarboek. I took care of social and webcare, Ernst mainly mapped out the environment. We also want to pay particular attention to 'customer-worthy' and 'customer-skilled': you have to deal with customers, citizens and consumers in a good way. For example, you can use a chatbot, but not necessarily to minimize your customer contact.”
Kruize: “Even if you are intensively involved in customer contact, even then you sometimes miss the overview of what is and is possible. In addition, we often hear the question 'how?'. Where do you start, how do you get the organization on board? With 'customer worthy' we argue for a revaluation of service. Customer value can also be viewed differently than 'how much money can you earn from a customer?'. Turn it around: how indispensable are you as an organization to your customer? What do you do to ensure that a customer chooses you and continues to choose you? We also want to highlight that in the book.”

 

What is the biggest challenge in digital customer contact?

Kruize: “One of the biggest challenges is using technology to facilitate people: customers and employees. There are still many organizations that have a well-organized exterior, but where employees have to work with all kinds of systems and have to cut and paste data. Even though we opt for the digital spectrum with this book, we both believe in the power of human contact. An organization that wants to digitize everything simply misses the boat. On the other hand, you hope that there are organizations that really have their self-service in order. So that a mining environment also offers added value for the customer. Or even a CRM portal, where you ask your customers to share and manage information, based on mutual trust and a shared interest. We suspect that there are not many organizations that approach it that way.”
Keuning: “We are currently collecting information. In the search for examples, we aim for a mix of large and small organizations from the public and private sector. Tips on beautiful examples are welcome."

 

Text: Erik Bouwer

*Ernst Kruize speaks in a personal capacity in this article.

Customer Experience