Earlier this year, the IBM Center for The Business of Government and the National Academy of Public Administration brought together a broad group of experts and stakeholders for a roundtable discussion.
At the "Recommendations for Improving Payment Integrity" roundtable, participants discussed strategies for enhancing the integrity of government payments (see our first overview post on how AI and emerging technologies can support such strategies).
Our second post in the three-part series highlighted the, “Complexity and Variability of Data,” where participants discussed ways to improve data management, leverage digital labor, address privacy concerns, and enhance public trust.
This final post in the series discusses the insights shared about “Customer Experience and Technology,” based on an exchange from a breakout session on that topic. Participants addressed the current state of CX technology (including AI) in government regarding payment programs, internal and external challenges faced, and potential solutions to improve efficiency and security.
A key theme focused on the difficulty of quantifying the return on investment (ROI) from effective CX that can help to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse. Proving a negative—what doesn't happen due to preventive measures—is inherently challenging. However, tools such as Monte Carlo simulations can help predict potential impacts of different interventions, offering a pathway to estimate the benefits of preventative efforts. Despite these tools, many government agencies still struggle with capturing information and metrics to support sound decisions, highlighting a need for improved data collection and analysis.
Challenges identified included legacy systems, lack of standards, and limited budgets – all of which further complicate the adoption of AI and other advanced CX technologies to improve integrity. Participants emphasized the importance of overcoming these hurdles by prioritizing new innovations and fostering a mindset open to change. For example, the sharing of common algorithms for fraud prevention across agencies could streamline efforts and reduce redundancy, avoiding the need to collect the same information from the same person multiple times. Additionally, workforce training and upskilling will ensure that employees have the knowledge and skills to effectively use new technologies.
Externally, outdated laws and policies pose significant barriers to long-term CX technology innovations in this domain. Initiatives like the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) can provide channels for change. However, long term reform efforts may require legislative action to ensure sustained impact.
One practical solution discussed was the government wide adoption of a single citizen sign-on platform (for example, Login.gov), which could enhance security and streamline the user experience across agencies. While migrating existing systems to a new platform can bring cost and complexity, the potential benefits from fraud prevention and data security present a potentially high return on this investment. Agencies could also benefit from sharing effective data collection and analysis practices and data sharing agreements to foster a more collaborative approach to CX technology adoption for payment programs.
In summary and to inform future actions, the roundtable found that government executives could focus on four key action items: