State Services Commission Crown Copyright

State Services Commission Crown Copyright An Introduction to Government Use of SMS

State Services Commission Crown Copyright How it’s going to go 1.Why SMS? 2.What the Introduction is and what it isn’t 3.Case studies 4.Lessons learnt 5.Where to from here?

State Services Commission Crown Copyright First, a caveat: Think first about a problem you have that you need to solve. Then consider if SMS may provide a solution to. Don’t jump on the SMS bandwagon just because it is new(ish) and shiny.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Why SMS? 90% of people in NZ own a cell phone SMS can be used for communication AND service delivery Plenty of corporations are doing it, so it is an entrenched part of society There is buzz around 3G, iPhones, mobile internet and so on but SMS is holding strong

State Services Commission Crown Copyright About the Introduction It is a collection of case studies and some lessons learnt It is meant to be a starting place for agencies considering SMS It is not a definitive guide to everything you need to know, nor is it law

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Case Studies In this talk I’m not going to go into great detail, but the Introduction isn’t signed off yet, and Chatham House rule apply.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Four case studies: MED Immigration NZ Collections Electoral Enrolment Centre

State Services Commission Crown Copyright TXTB4UBUY (the MED) People can text in the number plate of a second-hand car before they buy it, to check if there are any unpaid fines or the like on the car. On average, in 2008 there were 2500 text inquiries per month. Having the search available via text message makes it accessible when people need it the most – when they’re in car yards.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Immigration New Zealand (Department of Labour) SMS updates on work permit status Reduces calls to call-centre = great value for money Potential to mine data further They have had overwhelmingly good feedback from the scheme

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Collections (The Ministry of Justice) Collections Wellington ran a pilot scheme using text-messaging to contact people to remind them that they were due in court the next day. Attendance rates have risen from 60% to a 90% attendance rate. SMS is a non-intrusive way of contacting people

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Electoral enrolment centre Since 2002 the EEC have let people request enrolment packs via SMS. They receive a large response – 124,000 before 2008 election 37% of people who signed up for the electoral roll in the last six months before the 2008 election requested an enrolment form by text. The service is free to users with EEC paying the text costs

State Services Commission Crown Copyright What agencies thought were the best things about SMS Improved service delivery (really good feedback) Efficient one-way communications channel People have their cellphones with them, immediacy of messaging Large audience, most people text People who may not have landlines will still often have cellphones Non-intrusive

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Lessons learnt: SMS is exactly that – a short message

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Privacy issues need to be considered

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Get your records management team involved from Day One.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Protecting the authenticity of text messages from the government is vital

State Services Commission Crown Copyright SMS is a two-way communications channel

State Services Commission Crown Copyright SMS services are sometimes delayed and may not be ideal for time-critical messages

State Services Commission Crown Copyright SMS can be helpful for those who are hearing-impaired

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Paid services delivered via SMS can be charged to the customer easily

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Consider your customer’s preference for how they would like to be contacted

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Have a plan for a massive response and also no response at all

State Services Commission Crown Copyright How will agencies define success?

State Services Commission Crown Copyright The SMS service may need to be promoted and customers may need to opt-in

State Services Commission Crown Copyright The use of SMS by a government agency may have an impact beyond the team it emerges from

State Services Commission Crown Copyright SMS may be superseded by another technology in the future

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Where to next? 1. Read it! 2. Share your own experiences! 3. Talk to Victoria University about it! 4. Report back to groups like this!

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Read it – just as soon as it’s finished The Introduction to Government Use of SMS will be available soon at these locations near you:

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Introduction to Government Use of SMS available from: The Participation Wiki: Main_Page

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Introduction to Government Use of SMS available from: The E-Initiatives Wiki initiatives What is the e-initiatives wiki? This site is a library of interesting projects across the New Zealand Public Sector that you can edit. What is an e-initiative? Any project across Government, often involving some kind of information and communications technology.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Introduction to Government Use of SMS available from: Web Standards Wiki /Home_page The New Zealand Government Web Standards and Recommendations aim to help government make well- designed web sites that enable access regardless of disability, web browser, mobile device, or connection speed.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Introduction to Government Use of SMS available from: Me! I’m also happy to meet with you to discuss the Introduction in greater depth. As long as you contact me before June 30, that is.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Victoria University Research Effective Electronic Records Management in the 21 st Century The project is led by Professor Miriam Lips with research activities by Anita Rapson and Tony Hooper.

State Services Commission Crown Copyright Any questions?