Integrating artificial intelligence into customer experience (CX) services can empower veterans and other constituents to shape how they are served, a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) CX expert said Tuesday.
“The most exciting component of CX, to me, is that it’s always going to be the key for us to adapt to whatever emerging need there is,” said Barbara Morton, deputy chief veterans experience officer at VA, while speaking at a GovExec event in Washington on June 3.
“There’s nothing else that can really do that for us collectively … maintaining a focus on the person or the people that you’re serving, listening to them, and especially in government, letting the people drive how they’re served,” she continued.
Morton explained that integrating the use of advanced technology – such as AI – can help supplement interactions between Federal agencies and customers, including citizens and trusted partners.
“We have an opportunity for … leveraging technology not to replace human contact, but to really help with those kind of navigation challenges that we know veterans and their families have,” said Morton. “Everybody talks about AI technology, I think there’s a huge role for that, but I think it has to be an enabler [for] making sure we keep our focus on the people that we serve.”
She added that her mission is to ensure every veteran can access the full range of benefits they’re entitled to – which often means meeting them where they are and providing online self-service options for younger veterans.
“We have to segment basically based on different veteran populations,” said Morton. “It’s not a one size fits all, because we serve 85-year-old veterans who maybe aren’t really interested in technology. So, I think having a people-at-center-mindset allows us to make sure we’re looking at the full scope of people that we’re serving and not just rely on sort of a great-need-whiz-bang technology solution.”
When creating CX technology for veterans or citizens looking for Federal services, Morton said that evaluating what people want based on data can help create technology that better serves customers. “We’re actually applying what people want and programming it around the person and so really something, I think, to be incredibly proud of,” she said.