ACCORDING to many experts, the delivery of public services is the primary role or function of government.
In the public sector, it could be said that by comparison, the government has more services than products. In the private sector however, there are probably many products as there are services.
In that sense it could be said that in the private sector, equal importance should be given to the delivery of products and the delivery of services.
Stretching this argument further, it could be said that the primary role of a private enterprise is to make their customers happy and satisfied with its delivery of products and services. Using that same argument, it could also be said therefore that the primary role of government is to make the general public happy and satisfied with its delivery of public services.
Although there is no official literature that conclusively defines it, it is generally understood that the so called customers of the private sector are one and the same with the so called citizens of the country that are in need of services from the government agencies. Although the comparison could be considered as being on a one to one basis, it is really more than that, because these so called citizens are also the voters and taxpayers.
From another perspective, some comparisons are being made between the shareholders of private enterprises and the stakeholders of the government as a whole, again being those who hold the triple personalities of citizens, voters and taxpayers.
Again, even without official literature, it could be generally said that Customer Relations Management (CRM) software as it is used by private enterprises could also be used by government agencies, with very few adjustments and adaptations.
That is not really a big issue, because even in the private enterprises, CRM software has to be adjusted and adapted to the unique needs of each and every company or organization. For one reason or another however, it appears that there are very few government agencies that are using CRM software.
Looking at this from a liberal perspective, we could agree for the sake of a healthy argument that government agencies could still be good at delivering public services even without using CRM software. I would not answer that directly, because I will instead tell you that we could still see in the darkness by using a candle, even without using electricity.
Going back to the basics, it could be said that in its earlier versions, CRM software tended to focus more on addressing customer complaints, and nothing more. As it was originally used, it was generally assumed that for as long as a customer complaint is sufficiently addressed, the CRM software that was used could already be considered as being good enough.
In its newer versions however, CRM software could not be considered as good enough if all it could do is to address customer complaints. As it is now being used, it is not enough for CRM software to be considered as good enough, because the technology has been leveled up to a point wherein it should not simply just satisfy the customer, it should surprise him or her with the highest possible quality of service that would make him very happy and very satisfied, beyond his expectations.
From one perspective, it could be said that a government agency has lesser motivation than a private enterprise, because the latter has a profit motive whereas the former only has a legal mandate. This disadvantage could be possibly aggravated by the negative thinking that citizens will pay taxes anyway, no matter what, because they are legally obligated to do so. In contrast, the customers of the private enterprises will not buy their products or services if their customer service is lousy.
There was a time in the past wherein government employees could get promoted even if they do not perform, but that is now changing because the government now has a performance based promotion system. One way or the other, this new promotion system in the government could possibly become an alternative to the profit motive of the private enterprises.
The heat is on, because the private enterprises are now trying to beat each other in the game of delivering the highest form of customer experience, a trend that is now considered to be the next level of customer relations.
Hopefully, this trend will spill over to the government agencies so that sooner or later, they will also be trying to beat each other in this new game. That may not happen right away, but whether the government agencies will like it or not, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has already set the higher standards for addressing customer complaints, he has also set the higher standards for servicing the needs of citizens as they apply for documents and official forms.
He has also set the higher standards for reporting incidents of corruption in the government. His signals are very clear./PN
