Why introducing AI doesn’t have to mean introducing constituent engagement risks

For government service providers, enhancing or even maintaining constituent engagement (CE) levels is increasingly challenging in an era of staffing shortages and tightening purse strings. 

Historically, meaningful CE changes required heavy technology investment. The IT department tended to approach this investment with a lift-and-shift mentality, without accounting for the change management and process optimization needed to ensure smoother adoption and more meaningful change. This approach could disrupt government operations for months or perhaps even years. 

AI is now changing this equation — making maintenance or even improvement a realistic aspiration, even when other resources are scarce. The versatility and flexibility of modern AI tools make it easier than ever to implement time-saving automation that fits into existing tech stacks and workflows. Now, all it takes to start a constituent engagement transformation is a little constituent empathy, an understanding of what AI can do, and a sound strategy to determine the right cost-benefit balance for their organization. 

The state of AI usage in public and private sectors

Although there’s an “everybody’s using it” mystique about AI, an October ‘24 Gallup poll tells a more nuanced story, with some two-thirds of employees saying they never use AI in their job. Of those who do use AI, less than half say it has improved their productivity and efficiency.

Gallup also revealed a disconnect between AI initiatives and workers: even when major AI initiatives are in the works, only 30% of workers in the organization are even aware of it.

The lesson? It’s clear that many organizations are still working out the best way to integrate AI into their workflows.  Effective implementation of AI and automation requires leadership, a well-articulated plan, and awareness of AI initiatives in the workforce. In constituent engagement particularly, everyone in the organization needs to be involved. 

Strategy matters: Looking upstream

CE transformation means rethinking how citizens interact with government services, identifying pain points in those interactions, and using technology to proactively address them. To achieve meaningful cost savings while simultaneously improving CE, agencies must look upstream in the citizen interaction process, including all customer touchpoints from the web to contact centers and in-person office visits.

Public sector services can jump-start their AI journey by adopting a constituent-first mindset, putting themselves in the shoes of the people they serve and asking: What would make my experience as a constituent easier and more seamless? Which transactions are most tedious, labor-intensive, and repetitive? Which workflows have repeated transactions that might be automated? Which KPIs are off the charts in the contact center and elsewhere?

By mapping journeys across significant touchpoints, managers can identify the costliest transactions — labor-wise, budget-wise, and CE-wise — and strike the optimal balance between cost and constituent engagement.

What are AI and automation good for?

Too many interactions between the government and its constituents are rife with inefficiencies, making citizens endure multiple, siloed form-filling processes, often requiring them to provide the same information multiple times, which is both time-consuming and frustrating.

While AI and automation cannot completely eliminate government staffing shortages, they can reduce manual and repetitive tasks — freeing up current staff to focus on higher-value tasks that require human expertise, such as complex case management or citizen assistance.

Agencies can start by addressing low-complexity, repetitive tasks upstream. By automating processes like appointment scheduling, form submissions, and citizen notifications, agencies can operate more efficiently with fewer staff members. 

Here are a few examples of tasks that generative AI can perform as well or better than humans:

Streamlining access to information — Just finding information is time-consuming for workers and customers alike.  AI can answer questions through a chat conversation. Even better, it can be “trained” on your electronic documents to answer specific questions in detail. Your customers can access policies and procedures, many times faster through conversation. 

Handling common transactions — AI-powered chatbots can also handle simple inquiries faster, such as tracking the status of a permit or renewing a driver's license, without the need for human involvement. 

Orchestrating communication — With the ability to understand text in documents, emails, and databases, AI can intelligently triage messages and get them to the right department, craft intelligent replies, or escalate urgent issues. 

“Found” AI — AI implementation can sometimes be found in systems already in use. As OEMs and SaaS developers rush to implement the latest AI in their existing platforms, agencies may already own solutions like help-desk, contact center, or knowledge management platforms that offer off-the-shelf options for providing information, intelligent routing of calls or emails, and numerous other smart automations.

Measuring success with feedback — AI itself can aggregate text emails, web feedback, and other inbound context to determine not only sentiment, but the most common complaints and suggestions, aggregating customer feedback to measure the effectiveness of your AI strategy. 

Proactive constituent outreach — Another win-win can come from automating constituent outreach. Whether it’s reminding individuals to renew their driver’s license or informing Medicaid recipients of re-enrollment deadlines, proactive outreach can prevent small issues from escalating into more costly problems down the line.

This type of upstream intervention is not only more efficient, but it can help ensure that citizens remain informed and compliant, reducing the likelihood of more costly interventions later.

Final thoughts

For true constituent engagement transformation with tangible cost benefits, public sector services will need to look upstream to have the most impact — both on cost to serve and citizen satisfaction. While automating simple tasks offers a quick win, the long-term benefits of AI and automation come from reimagining how citizens interact with government services and using technology to streamline those processes.

State and local governments are in a unique position where their tax-paying constituents are obligated to engage with them. Unlike the private sector, which depends on inspiring customer enthusiasm and loyalty, government services don’t have those same expectations. However, this presents a tremendous opportunity for innovation, as improving constituent engagement and building trust can transform these necessary interactions into ones that are more efficient, engaging, and beneficial for the community.