Why We Focus on ‘the Customer’ in Public Service

1. The public (your customers) are the reason service organisations exist. Their needs determine the services required and the level of support needed to provide them. So you must fully understand the real needs they have.
2. The population you serve need your services to deliver for them – generally they are unlikely to have a truly ‘competitive’ choice of providers to meet their need and so they are absolutely reliant upon you to provide the services they expect.
3. Your service is often based on a ‘constitution’ or ‘promise’ which outlines the scope and nature of what you offer and the standards people should expect from you. This setting of expectations in the language and minds of your customers must be matched by your own service delivery.
4. We‘re all customers ourselves, so we know what it means to use our services. Your staff have a common bond with the people for whom services are being designed and delivered; so make life simpler and use ‘customer language’ to describe how they can get services ‘right’ and what customers can expect.
5. If we let the ‘real experts’ - your customers - truly shape what a great service looks like from their perspective, they will help you to design an effective and efficient offer, which they can trust and fully engage with.
6. Finally, many services are reliant on the ‘customer’ in order for them to work at their best. The population must be engaged in helping to deliver a great service, because what people do and how they choose to behave may directly impact on the quality of service you can deliver for them.