GRAND CAYMAN (GIS) – The 5-year Strategic Plan for A World Class Civil Service reflects the shared aspirations of stakeholders who participated in the “Civil Service Re-imagined” consultation initiative.  The strategic plan comprises five goals, including “Delivering Outstanding Customer Experience,” which has been prioritised for 2018.

Ten government departments with high customer-facing traffic and who serve diverse client have been chosen to participate in this year’s customer service pilot. The departments of Vehicle and Drivers Licensing; Planning, Commerce and Investment; Immigration; Lands & Survey; Customs; Needs Assessment Unit; Cayman Islands Postal Services; General Registry; and District Administration have been selected.

The first phase of the project was recently completed by deploying 30 “Happy or Not” customer satisfaction kiosks across the main customer-facing areas of the 10 pilot departments. Starting immediately, customers are encouraged to register their satisfaction levels by pressing one of four button choices: Very Happy, Happy, Unhappy or Very Unhappy.

The data recorded by the kiosks will help determine the level of customer satisfaction throughout the working day and will inform management and staff about priority areas to address. During March 2018, the baseline results will be established and the results published monthly. Measurement will continue to track customer satisfaction to see what progress is being made in service delivery and customer satisfaction. The devices also give each customer equal voice in assessing departments’ performance, and reminds civil servants that each customer is important.

In addition to adopting transparent measures to track the progress being made under the customer experience goal, the project includes initiatives to obtain insights from our customers on ways Government might improve their customer experience, to identify the root causes of the impediments to good customer service, and to tackle each challenge in turn.

Critical to the success of this project is training both managers and front line staff on how to deliver a customer experience that makes a positive difference.

“The principle underpinning our customer service strategy is simple,” said Deputy Governor Hon. Franz Manderson.  “We aim to put the customer at the heart of everything that we do.”

Gloria McField-Nixon, Chief Officer of the Portfolio of the Civil Service, said that the portfolio’s team will assist and support the ten departments and their Ministries to enhance the customer service outcomes in the pilot group by providing training, improved management tools and other practical support.