
Delivering Government Services Like a Digital Native
Public agencies rarely match the private sector in online experiences. By taking a customer-centric approach, they can even the score—and serve people better.
A digital product is more than an experience or a solution. It’s an opportunity to deliver—and capture—the value that matters most.
Digital products are the connective tissue of high-performing organizations. Whether it’s a customer self-service solution or a dashboard to monitor the supply chain, the best digital products support growth and differentiation, increase competitiveness, and instill resilience. They are the embodiments of strategy and goals.
The key is to build the right things in the right ways. That means linking digital products with business value so that they deliver the experiences—and results—that matter most. It means grounding products in human-centered design so that they speak to users. And it means using an agile approach to accelerate delivery—and time to value.
We help organizations develop a digital product strategy that realizes business strategy. To do this, we leverage an array of capabilities—in human-centered design, product engineering, product management, AI and analytics, cybersecurity, and agile ways of working. But we aren’t just designers and builders. We’re enablers. This is a crucial component of our approach: embedding the processes, roles, and technology that let clients own—and continually improve—their digital products.
Our digital product consulting consists of three phases, each built around a number of core but flexible concepts, recognizing that every organization is different.
Building the right digital product strategy in the right way requires a wealth of expertise—in specific markets, emerging technologies, and new ways of working. Our integrated approach to digital product strategy lets us develop digital products that differentiate our clients. And it enables us to deliver those solutions—and the value they create—at digital speed.
Here are some examples of our impact:
Creating a Digital Front Door for Health Care. Our client, a leading integrated health system, wanted to use technology to create a more seamless, customer-centric experience for patients. Using human-centered-design principles, we interviewed more than 100 individuals to understand their pain points in interacting with the broader US health care system. Among the problems: overly complex systems that made it difficult to get answers about care or to access billing information. These insights informed our design of a digital front door: an easy-to-navigate portal for the full health care journey. Significantly, the system can triage patients, providing a level of diagnosis that may negate the need for in-person care. Indeed, our client estimates that the digital product is responsible for 1,500 fewer hospitalizations each year.
Simplifying the Customer-Onboarding Experience. The dilemma: a major package delivery company saw millions of unique visitors coming to its site each month, yet only a small fraction created accounts. Human-centered design revealed the problem—and the solution. For many of those visitors, the sign-up process was a distraction: a complex process when they simply wanted to set up a delivery. We worked with the company to create a more streamlined process, one that asked for less information and was more flexible and transparent—offering, for example, a “complete later” option and time-to-complete estimates. We simplified features that let users change the delivery address and set up notifications. We also implemented a new design language to make the interfaces more intuitive and usable. On an investment of $30 million, our client estimates the potential revenue uplift at $170 million.
Building a Centralized Platform for Marketing Automation. Our client had a clear vision: to expand its offerings and become an all-in-one marketing platform. But in an increasingly crowded space, differentiation was key—and there were roadblocks. Chief among them: a lack of cohesion across the product portfolio and a fragmented customer experience. We worked with the company to refine its business strategy, embed a more customer-centric mindset, and bring agile methodologies to its design and development teams. We also developed a key digital product: a centralized platform that integrated tools and services for the full customer journey. This platform enables the company to add new features seamlessly and in a cohesive way—one that attracts customers instead of confusing them.
Public agencies rarely match the private sector in online experiences. By taking a customer-centric approach, they can even the score—and serve people better.
Buyers that overpay for targets typically struggle to create value. An in-depth understanding of what drives industry and company valuations is critical to succeed.
COVID-19 has brought dramatic behavioral shifts—some of which are here to stay. Designing for the new reality means understanding rapidly evolving needs, expectations, and roadblocks.
As companies face increased uncertainty and market volatility, the ability to respond effectively to ambiguity and unpredictability will be a critical advantage.