Federal Agencies Modernize Contact Centers to Improve CX

Federal agencies are adopting a digital first approach to break down siloed service models and deliver integrated, multichannel experiences that meet customers where they are and streamline service delivery.

The Veterans Experience Office (VEO) examined processes, policies and data management to ensure veterans’ authenticated data remains consistent across Department of Veterans Affairs’ channels, Chief Innovations Officer for Multi Channel Technology Trisha Dang said Tuesday at ACT-IAC’s annual Contact Center Summit in Reston, Virginia.

“We want to be able to start with a digital interaction, but escalate to a voice or video call based on the complexity without re-authenticating a user’s identity, and that for us is a long term goal,” said Dang.

Over the past decade, VEO analyzed high-volume transactions across VA’s call centers, mail, fax and in-person visits. While customers often began interactions online, many were unable to complete claims digitally. Dang said the agency identified policies and regulations that prevented end-to-end digital transactions.

“We’ve looked through [our policies and regulations] so we can ensure that when our customers start on a channel with us online, for example on va.gov, that they can actually start and complete their claims,” said Dang.

Dang added it’s critical for federal contact centers to monitor customer experience, especially as new and emerging technologies are introduced to the government. While many agencies are pursuing a digital-first approach, she said they must validate whether those tools align with user preferences.

“It’s really important for us to step back and make sure it’s actually a digital feature your customers want,” said Dang. “Our population would love to call us, and they do. Regardless of how we might push digital first, they’d love to have a conversation with a live person. I think providing that as a preference is going to be key to that strategy.”

Advancing Self-Service at SSA

At the Social Security Administration (SSA), Internal Consulting Director Michelle Lieu said the agency is also aligning multichannel contact centers around customer experience. She noted that while optimizing individual channels is complex, it is critical to reduce duplicative communications across email, mail and other platforms.

“We should line all our channel strategies up so they support one another – one strategy – as opposed to kind of fragmented all across channels,” said Lieu.

Lieu said SSA’s service index enables the agency to map services across online, phone and in-person channels by connecting customer journeys with data and internal processes. The framework helps identify gaps, reduce friction and prioritize improvements.

“The beauty of this framework is that it allows us to see through the lens of our customer throughout their journey. Then we can see and strategize what we can improve,” said Lieu.

Lieu said that before August 2025, SSA beneficiaries could not request voluntary tax withholding through online self-service. Instead, they had to print and mail or fax a form, or complete it over the phone with an agent. Lieu said service index data showed customers preferred completing the process online or through interactive voice response.

“If we’re trying to do digital first, we want to make self-service capabilities available to the customers. That’s where the service index comes in and lays everything out so you can target what tasks can be added to self service channels and let the technician focus on more complex tasks,” said Lieu.

The index serves as a starting point for agencies to understand their customers’ journeys. She added that while understanding individual customer journeys is essential to identifying pain points, agencies must also take a broader view to scale improvements across channels.

“How are you doing a unified strategy if there’s not one source? That’s what the service index does, it gives one source of knowledge,” said Lieu.