Better Public Services Advisory Group Report - November 2011

Greater use of technology
4.5 Capitalising on new technology and ways of engaging, such as social media, will reduce
costs and help meet citizens’ and businesses’ expectations for their dealings with
government.
4.6 There is evidence of fragmentation and duplication here. Each agency makes its own
decisions about service delivery approach, resources and channels. This leads to many
fragmented and disconnected service delivery points. Evidence suggests that citizens
like online services, which are cheaper 32 , but like access to other channels as well 33 .
However, even a 5% reduction in the cost of a single service could save an estimated
$40 million a year 34 . It is also to be expected that, over the next 10 years, there will
continue to be a major shift to electronic service provision, in place of the more traditional
channels.
4.7 This report recommends that agencies align and optimise their service delivery resources
and shift transactional services to online channels more rapidly. It also recommends that
the Government Chief Information Officer develop a systematic, cross-government
strategy for achieving this. This would provide citizens with an integrated set of services,
better use scarce expertise and reduce costs over time.
32
For example, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates that, compared to online channels, call-centre services are
20 times more expensive, postal services 40 times more expensive and face-to-face services 200 times more
expensive.
33 How New Zealanders Access Public Services: A Report on the Service Channels from Kiwis Count 2009: State
Services Commission 2010.
34
Based on estimated cost-to-serve for transactional and compliance and entitlement services of $798 million per
year; Service Transformation Programme.
37