can government learn from brands?

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved. Nurun - A Quebecor Media Company

SPRING 2010 OPEN FORUM

Like marketers, eGovernment agencies seek toconnect with their audiences online to servethem better and build strong relationships. From blogs to social networks to Twitter,governments are testing social media channelsto encourage participation. But will tactics that work for consumers succeed with citizens?

CAN GOVERNMENTLEARN FROMBRANDS?


Bernard CÔTÉDirector, Strategic ConsultingNurun Quebec City

CAN GOVERNMENT LEARN FROM BRANDS? Our experts weigh in:

FROM ONLINE BUREAUCRACY TO CYBER-DEMOC-RACY: A NEW PARADIGM FOR GOVERNMENT

Citizens are changing… and governments, too, are chang-ing the ways they operate and communicate with the gov-erned. Citizens today want services available everywhere: at work, at play, at home; at all times: with no restrictive schedules or opening hours; on all devices: work computer, home computer, smart phone, notebook, interactive TV. Not to mention social networks, which for most of us are the hub of our online activities.

The Blue Box

So imagine a world in which citizens and governments con-nect, exchange and collaborate, just as easily as we now interact with our friends on social platforms. That world is not science fiction: we’ve actually begun to develop that vision. We call it the Blue Box, in honour of Quebec’s state colour.

The Blue Box is a concept for the seamless integration of a governmental ecosystem with the universal digital ecosys-tem. It includes security, social media and elements of the semantic Web (Web 3.0). The Blue Box gives users access to a “hybrid cloud” of services provided by state agencies and partners, tailored to each individual’s needs as a citi-zen, a voter, a member of communities or interest groups, and a beneficiary of government services or subsidies.

What is innovative about the Blue Box is the way it incorpo-rates the social dimension, enabling citizens to willingly and actively participate in a truly 21st-century version of de-mocracy. New as well is the way Web 2.0 tools are used for on-the-job collaboration among government employees, their partners and the public.

What’s more, the Blue Box is a cutting-edge dashboard for highly efficient reporting, and it’s a powerful tool for busi-

ness intelligence – think Web analytics on steroids – to help people who design and deliver social services on govern-ment’s behalf.

Emerging trends for G2C

Given the current alignment of the economic (and business, and political) context with extraordinary advances in infor-mation technologies and digital media, forward-thinking government agencies have the ability to map out a new vision for interaction with citizens. The opportunities for in-novation are tremendous. Consider these:

• A collaboration toolbox shared by government employ-ees, citizens and communities, including chat, Wikis, blogs, webcams and other social tools

• Confidential online services for families and individuals, protected by advanced security strategies and tools

• State-of-the-art interoperability between government agencies, online partners and citizens, made possible by service oriented architecture and services delivered from the cloud

• Services delivered in Web ecosystems with hybrid wid-gets or mash-ups (in other words a mix of private and governmental services) multi-channeled to computers, smart phones, interactive TVs, etc.

• Rapid integration of complementary business solutions and frameworks such as customer relationship manage-ment (CRM), enterprise content management (ECM) and business process management (BPM) anchored in the cloud

• An innovative approach to governance, in particular to the resolution of issues raised by organizational transforma-tion, that takes into account the human factor, change management, communications strategy, and so on.

• The leveraging of skill sets and disciplines that are emerging from social media, the semantic Web, cloud technologies and service oriented architectures, business intelligence, and so on.

At Nurun our eGovernment teams are positioned at the juncture of emerging media and Web solutions; we’re work-ing hard to develop this ambitious vision for the future. It isn’t a distant future, either. Citizens are quickly adopting Web 2.0 and 3.0 technologies in their everyday lives. We believe that they are more than ready to take the leap into cyber-democracy.


Denis MARTELDirector, Web StrategyNurun Quebec City

WILL TACTICS THAT WORK FOR CONSUMERS SUC-CEED WITH CITIZENS?

New behaviours adopted by the online population have turned traditional communications upside-down. Online channels, networks, intelligent devices – they’re all multi-plying at a rapid pace. One consequence of this upheaval: organizations that want to reach out to us, today’s digital nomads, need to rethink the way they communicate.

That goes for governments, too.

Brands, by and large, have gotten the message. In an open system no longer based on top-down advertising but on dialogue and conversations, it’s just not possible to control what is said about their products and services.

Even more than brands, government agencies tend to fear that loss of control. But they need to realize that it’s already gone!

Recently a government ministry asked us to work with them to overhaul their “official online portal.” Our client was astounded to discover that an entire section of Wikipedia already presented a detailed account of the ministry’s of-ferings and services. The revelation was a shock – but it was also an effective and salutary wakeup call. We offered to help the ministry regain their leadership position, by becoming the main and most reliable source of information pertaining to their portfolio.

Governments need to participate, too

How would we accomplish this? To start, we would take cues from interactive communications models. After all, it’s the government’s job to make collective resources available to the public. That means socializing information and pro-moting collaboration. So why not integrate these principles into their digital communications strategy?

Citizens and activists worldwide are already discuss-ing, debating and defining the major issues of the day on every social platform, be it Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, Ning… That’s why it’s essential for government agencies to be present on those same platforms, in order to listen to what citizens have to say and hear their ideas. Governments need to participate in online communities so that they can become more responsive to the public’s needs and ultimately leverage the collective intelligence they gather to improve their services.

Gone are the days when a government agency’s interac-tive strategy could consist of putting up a website. As they learn to integrate social networks and media in a multi-channel digital strategy, governments are discovering more effective ways to communicate, and better ways to build real relationships, in real time, with the governed.

As even “traditional” government communications gradu-ally migrate to digital platforms, we foresee an interactive future filled with challenges and extraordinary opportuni-ties.


FORUM HIGHLIGHTSHere are some major points that emerged from our discussion of eGovernment and digital democracy

1 - From vox populi to social media - Empowered by social media, the people have taken over the Web. The world has found its voice in the online social ecosystem inhabited by Facebook, YouTube, Twit- ter, Wikipedia and the rest. Today 3 out of 5 Canadians have at least one social media profile page; among young adults the number is even higher.

- Collective intelligence opens the way for constructive debate and for the sharing of reliable information, all of which benefit the wider community. Given the uncon-trolled and uncontrollable nature of digital communica-tions, they are bound to generate a certain amount of noise and disinformation. Nonetheless, the success of Wikipedia indicates that we can have confidence in collective wisdom. In any case, citizens did not wait for permission before debating public issues on social plat-forms – whether government likes it or not.

- When it comes to privacy and security issues, many re-main wary of government’s ability to ensure the safety of personal information. Security is a hotly debated topic, as evidenced by numerous posts to the Open Forum.

2 – Governments are not merchants

- What governments and businesses have in common is this: both must learn to deal with the uncensored ex-changes that take place on the social Web; both need to live with the fact that people will talk about them, share experiences (good and bad), offer tips and workarounds for problems. Online populations use their “own turf” – social media – to express themselves freely and collec-tively, with comparable results for governments and for brands.

- Brands were the first to recognize the impact of social media, which is normal, perhaps, given the competitive nature of business. Governments, on the other hand, did not react with the same sense of urgency, at least not in the years from 2005 to 2008. But in 2010 the time for testing the waters is over. Today people regularly use social platforms to express concerns and opinions on the community and economic issues that directly involve the government.

3 – Governments approach social media with caution

- Governments show caution in their approach to social media; many are still taking the measure of the phenom-enon. Certain obvious risks – such as the diluting effect of open discussions on official information, the debates that degenerate into name-calling, the spread of outright disinformation—all of these give administrations pause.

- Still, there are many opportunities for government to do social media the right way. By starting conversations with their constituents, for example (look what that did for Obama!). “Social” government fosters transparency, the swift spread of information, the rise of true cyber-democ-racy. Some administrations are even providing govern-ment services sourced from the cloud –GoogleApps, for instance.

- Citizens’ concerns about the security and privacy of their personal information cannot be overlooked. But eGov-ernment strategies must evolve and take advantage of the interconnections between digital services and digital communication via social networks.


EXPERTS POINT OF VIEWWhat if government socialized with citizens?

Social media offer government many opportunities to get closer to constituents. Government needs to grasp those opportunities and leverage social media platforms in their communications and service strategies. Businesses and governments alike should be present and active in the social arena, because we the people expect them to take part. And as for the free-flowing give-and-take that prevails in social media – well, everyone will just have to get used to it.

It would be unwise for government to neglect social media. Social channels have become a new form of collective might, an amplifier that allows the voice of the people to be heard in the periods between elections. These new platforms have ushered in a new age of cyber-democracy – some might call them the iPad of digital democracy!

Still, certain fundamental questions remain to be an-swered. For example: among the main social networks, which one(s) would be suited to:

• Launching a debate, sharing opinions, learning what the community thinks?

• Ensuring that the collective knowledge of citizens and administrations is preserved and disseminated to the community (citizens and businesses alike)?

• Learning about government-related events?

• Providing secure online services supported by both official and community-based FAQs?

Right now there is no coherence among social media; each entity strives to increase traffic to its site in order to survive and make a profit. A truly digital government must adopt a holistic approach that seamlessly integrates both services and communications – a model that Nurun has conceptual-ized with the Blue Box.

The evaluation phase, we repeat, is over. Now is the time for administrations to step up, take action and make Gov-ernment 2.0 a reality for all citizens

The question puts into perspective the revolution taking place in the way public administrations com-municate with the people. At times, in the course of exercising certain civic rights and obligations, government and constituents must communicate in an “official” manner. But more often, civil servants and the people they serve engage in human communications: in other words, an exchange of informa-tion, explanations or advice.

can government learn from brands?

Technology