Previous page: Operational strategies
Dispelling common concerns
The creation of Service Canada signifies a strengthened focus on both the policy and service delivery functions within the Government of Canada. The new service delivery model recognizes the importance of both functions in achieving outcomes for Canadians and provides clear accountability for each.
Service Canada also provides a clear point of accountability for service in the federal government that will strengthen the government's ability to serve Canadians and meet their needs.
At the heart of Service Canada's business model is the recognition of the importance of gathering information about the needs of Canadians through service delivery and sharing that information across government to inform the policy and program development process.
A well-performing delivery network integrated and aligned with policy departments can infuse a cross-pollination of feedback and ideas by better incorporating the views and experiences of client-facing staff and citizens into policy-making systems.
The second concern is based on a concept that Service Canada should remain exclusively the initial point of contact with Canadians. It supposes that moving beyond a "front-end" single window toward more integrated "back office" functions means a massive agglomeration of departmental operations that will be inflexible, inefficient and unwieldy.
Yet the notion of a citizen-centered business model that separates front-end client service from back-end processing is out of step with global trends and best practices. Leading service organizations are moving very rapidly and deliberately to integrate their front-end and back-end business processes to better serve their clients at the point of contact.
Gone are the days of asking clients to complete and send multiple forms in order to conform to internal processes. The citizen-centric business model is about achieving better service at reduced cost via a more integrated and responsive service architecture, predicated on improving the user experience.
The contention that an integrated service provider risks weakened accountability, by effectively dispersing it across many partners, reflects the need to establish a new accountability framework.
The governance model should respect both traditional notions of ministerial accountability and collaborative or shared forms of accountability that are necessary for horizontal initiatives like Service Canada, including accountability to partners and citizens, and for results.
For example, with strong support from the premier, New Brunswick established a standalone crown corporation, Service New Brunswick, to work horizontally across all provincial departments and municipal governments to achieve integrative outcomes.
British Columbia, by contrast, has established a less autonomous but no less empowered unit within a central agency to foster such collaborative ties, leveraging in turn a refashioned and integrated delivery network jointly designed and maintained with industry. And Ontario has recently begun to aggressively move toward a one-stop, citizen-centered service model strongly rooted on service guarantees.
In the U.K, the minister responsible for government-wide transformation reports directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As importantly, however, this minister is supported by two cabinet sub-committees collectively responsible for implementing two key dimensions of the transformation agenda: information sharing and identity management.
In short, governments have embraced the new citizen-centered business model to provide the political direction for more effective, collaborative and integrative outcomes.
Public servants, in turn, must be empowered with the legislative tools and resources to achieve such outcomes. Both parties play separate roles, but in a manner that is unified in purpose: namely, better service and better outcomes for the citizen.
Pursuing service excellence
The citizen-centered business model is based on the premise that in order to optimally create service value and better outcomes for the public, government organizations must adapt accordingly.
This transformation is not one for Service Canada alone: recognizing interdependence is essential.
Service Canada is therefore engaging with all stakeholders, both internally and externally, to foster greater awareness, dialogue and innovation in terms of how decisions are made, and how authority and responsibilities are parceled out - and shared. The quest is how best to achieve more effective policy outcomes and efficient service.
For Service Canada to succeed, the entire Government of Canada must succeed in embracing and implementing this new business model predicated on people, partnerships and performance. A more efficient, integrated and adaptable business service model means better results for government and a better deal for the public, as both taxpayers and clients of their public service providers.B
Amanda Coe is director of policy with Service Canada; Daniel Belanger is former assistant deputy minister, business integration, with Service Canada; and Jeffrey Roy is associate professor in the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University.
Related content:
E-government pact aims to boost service delivery
Public sector customer service measures up to private
Partnership imperative
Q and A with Art Stevenson, Institute for Citizen-Centred Service
Canadian service delivery a model for U.K.
Refining customer service
icon.
