Goal 1: Deliver easy-to-use, fast, dependable and secure public services

“Claimants shouldn’t have to understand the structure of a department to receive benefits they’ve already paid for.” User research interview with Carol Williams, Chief Deputy Director of Operations, Employment Development Department

In the last 12 months, COVID-19 and wildfires reminded us that government can’t meet people’s needs without easy to use, reliable and secure technology. Often, the services provided by government are the difference between life and death. When these services fell short, state staff and technology company partners responded with creativity and dedication, moving quickly and deliberately to deliver improvements.

Californians must be able to trust their government. We earn that trust by making sure government services are reliable and dependable.

“Automation is here, it’s reusable, and should be easy to apply. Any department that’s still touching paper has to move past it.” User research interview with Carol Williams, Chief Deputy Director of Operations, Employment Development Department

Faster public services means learning how to identify bottlenecks in not just public services, but internal processes, too. To enable state staff to focus on putting people first, we must look for bottlenecks in our processes and policies, and rewrite them to be simpler, clearer and more straightforward.

We’ve seen and heard that the quality of our public services is inconsistent. Before COVID-19, some services could only be applied for in person. Some services can be used online, but at a computer, not on a phone. In others, people keep entering the wrong information, showing the need to make services easier to understand and use. Policies often mean services are delivered slowly because they don’t allow automation, or automation is used but inconsistently. Many people aren’t confident enough to use online services, and find them confusing or alienating. Lastly, programs that do want to make improvements often don’t have the ability or capacity to.