Looking for change in all the right places
The study shows that state and local survey respondents understand that managing the ongoing financial crises and improving customer services requires eliminating internal process inefficiencies. Specifically, when asked to identify their top goals for each government initiative (see Figure 1), 51 percent of survey respondents noted that initiatives were intended to improve operational efficiency and organizational effectiveness. Another 11 percent identified facilitate effective decision-making and policy formulation, for a total of 62 percent focused on internal objectives.

Although more than half of respondents had internally focused goals, this does not imply that state and local governments are not customer-centric. In fact, the root causes for many service problems are internal administration, process and technology inefficiencies. So a focus on internal efficiencies is an attempt to eliminate the burdensome, paper-intensive and manual activities that cause service problems. Additionally, many respondents face intense budget pressures and are looking for these initiatives to cut unnecessary costs without reducing service levels.