Overview
Since establishing the Office of Customer Experience in the Executive Chamber in the fall of 2023, several accomplishments have been completed over the past year that have provided tangible impact for New Yorkers. These accomplishments showcase that NYS government is working differently for the people we serve. We are using data, talking to New Yorkers, and developing use cases to find and prioritize customer pain points. Changing how we work has driven the following impressive outcomes across operational excellence, digital transformation, and innovative service delivery.
Download a copy of the CX accomplishments in New York State from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024.
Operational Improvements
- Tax Direct File Pilot: In collaboration with Code for America and the IRS, we enabled 12,000 New Yorkers to file their taxes directly with the state and IRS. This simplified process helped reduce completion time of tax returns from an average of 55 min to 13 min while also eliminating tax preparation fees for New Yorkers.
- Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) Virtual Events: HESC shifted from in-person to primarily virtual events in 2024, offering financial aid guidance remotely. This year, we hosted 288 events, resulting in a 350% increase in attendance, making their services more accessible to a wider audience.
- New York State of Health (NYSOH) Service Improvements: NYSOH improved its service delivery by enhancing the Medicaid application for mobile users, optimizing income verification processes, and improving administrative renewals, leading to faster and more accessible application handling.
- Multi-Lingual Service Support: NYSOH updated its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, adding multilingual support and specific messaging about Medicaid renewals. The system now offers callback options and language-specific info, improving service for non-English-speaking callers.
- Department of Motor Vehichles (DMV) Live Chat Expansion: The DMV expanded live chat support from three topics to all customer inquiry types. We handle an average of 4,000 chats monthly, with an average wait time of less than a minute.
Digital Transformation
- HESC Website Revamp: HESC’s redesigned website to be more intuitive and user friendly. As a result, there was a 63% increase in monthly views and a 12% rise in Tuition Assistance Program applications for students. The redesign also reduced the number of customer inquiries by 56% because of the site enhancements.
- HESC Text Notifications: HESC's SMS alerts program for students and parents, offering updates on college preparation and financial aid deadlines, saw a 32% increase in subscribers in 2024, with 5.4M messages sent in one year, driving proactive engagement with users.
- Office of General Services (OGS) Digital Decay: OGS revamped 12 state websites this year which resulted in a 244% increase in user traffic across the overhauled platforms. We will continue to work on our websites to ensure that they are up-to-date and functioning properly.
- Find Services Webform: The "Find Services" tool on NY.gov was redesigned with a focus on the user experience. Improvements were rolled out in 2024 and as a result, we saw a 553% increase in usage. This increase is important because we want to ensure that New Yorkers can more effectively access the services and benefits they need.
- Professional Licensing: Addressing broken processes for professional licensing in cosmetology and barbering, the state implemented fixes in collaboration with ITS and DOS. Since the changes, complaints about the licensing process have dropped by over 50%.
- DMV Virtual Assistant: Leveraging virtual assistant technology, the DMV launched a new and improved License Status Bot in 2024. Through the new bot, between 5,000 to 7,000 customers per week can receive critical information about the status of their driver license and how to address open suspensions or revocations, without speaking to an agent.
- DMV Launches IVR Navigator Pilot: : In August, DMV began piloting the IVR Navigator for 10% of callers. In the first 24-hours, 446 callers were directed to the IVR Navigator. This technology guides customers through self-service options and answers common customer questions.
Innovative Service Delivery
- OGS Data Tracking: New York State lacks a comprehensive understanding of how users interact with its online services. A universal analytics program, set to launch in October 2024, will streamline tracking of 375 million monthly events across state websites to improve service delivery.
- DMV Customer Satisfaction Surveys: The DMV's interactive voice response-based customer satisfaction survey gathers 12,500 responses monthly to help DMV enhance its customer service and agent training. Agents score an average of 1.2 (excellent), while automated systems score 1.34.
- NYSOH Health Insurance Renewal: NYSOH, with help from the US Digital Service, improved its administrative renewal rates post-pandemic, ensuring that nearly 70% of Medicaid and public program enrollees are automatically redetermined for eligibility, surpassing the original 50% target.