Authorities on the Web: waits are often long

Four out of ten citizen’s e-mails are only answered after four days
Big response is overloading capacity

Increased availability but slow response times  
Citizens can find their way to a contact address in no more than three clicks on 80 per cent of websites hosted by public authorities. However, this level of accessibility has also meant that the services are being used a lot. The result is that four out of ten e-mails sent by citizens to authorities or ministries are only answered in four days or more. These are the findings of the novomind survey entitled "Reality Check: Customer Communication", which was conducted in conjunction with the IMWF Institute for Management and Business Research. 
  
Authorities open themselves up to communication with citizens  
The aim of public authorities has actually been to show that they are moving closer to the people by providing other channels of communication. Ninety per cent of authorities now have an e-mail address for virtual communication with citizens. Furthermore, their contact pages are on average clearer than commercial companies, and they provide users with a choice of communication channels. At least three methods are available for contacting authorities and ministries-e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and online contact forms. 
  
Lessening the burden using e-mail management software and improved FAQs  
Citizens have responded so favourably to electronic methods of contacting the authorities that many official bodies have been caught unprepared. Generally speaking they have not equipped their websites with efficient methods of managing incoming queries. These might include special software systems that automate the handling of e-mails to a greater extent, thus reducing response times. Also, not enough attention has been paid to guiding people’s queries into appropriate channels. Too many standard questions are arriving on the desks of service staff. It would be better if citizens were navigated to the information they require using detailed FAQs and virtual consultants. This would make an e-mail to the authority unnecessary, allowing more complex enquiries to be answered more quickly by e-mail. But only one in three authorities has placed this kind of online aid on their websites. 
  
Mail-order companies are the best at e-mail customer communications  
Private companies, especially mail-order retailers, are more advanced in their e-mail response times than the public authorities. Eighty-five per cent of mail-order companies provide customers with a response to the information they are looking for within 24 hours. None of the companies surveyed needed more than two days to respond in detail to enquiries. 
  
Background information  
The survey "Reality Check: Customer Communication" presents the results of a study conducted on behalf of novomind AG in conjunction with the IMWF Institute for Management and Business Research. It analysed the quality of customer communication provided by German companies, government ministries and public authorities. 
  
novomind AG: innovative software for professional customer communication and Internet systems  
Hamburg-based software company novomind is the fastest-growing company in the fields of electronic customer communication and mail management. As a leading provider of innovative solutions for digital customer communication, novomind AG offers software for service-based, personalised interaction with customers. This achieves noticeable increases in the efficiency of customer administration, as well as a fast return on investment. The service portfolio of the Products Business Unit includes the novomind Self Service Suite™. This software package contains all of the communication modules required for a customer service centre, which revolve around a central knowledge base: e-mail management, virtual customer consulting and systems for interactive real-time communication. In its Services Business Unit, novomind AG implements complex eBusiness applications. More than 50 big-name companies have already opted for novomind technology, including Citibank, Otto and the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (German Pensions Association). Club Bertelsmann, EnBW and myToys, as well as public sector institutions such as the German Bundestag and the Federal Ministry of Economics, are already using novomind systems successfully to back up their customer communication, increase their turnover and improve their public relations. 

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