Building resident trust: How a seamless Identity platform transforms U.S. government services

The digital government opportunity

Digital government services consistently trail behind the private sector in user satisfaction. In 2023, a Deloitte survey revealed a gap of 21 percentage points between customer satisfaction with digital government services and the private sector. Last year, a Qualtrics report revealed that customer satisfaction ratings for U.S. state government services such as SNAP and state tax services lag compared to federal services like Medicare and Social Security. Both gaps represent an extraordinary opportunity for forward-thinking state and local government technology leaders. By addressing one foundational element — Identity management — agencies can dramatically transform citizen experiences and unlock the full potential of their digital investments.

The path to digital service excellence

Although Boston Consulting Group's 2024 Digital Government Citizen Survey shows 74% of users encountered problems accessing online U.S. government services over the past two years, government CIOs, CISOs, and digital transformation leaders have a clear path forward. Agencies that have already invested substantially in digital services are just one critical step away from achieving breakthrough engagement and satisfaction levels.

Identity: The key to transformation

Modern Identity management isn't just another technology implementation — it's the catalyst that can unlock the potential of existing digital infrastructure. When residents can easily and securely authenticate across services, the entire digital government ecosystem becomes more powerful. Each digital service becomes more accessible, utilized, and valuable to the residents being served.

Building on the digital foundation

Luckily for government technology leaders, a modern Identity platform will complement existing investments without requiring complete system overhauls. Frameworks like Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management (FICAM) provide a blueprint for U.S. agencies to enhance resident experiences while strengthening security postures quickly.

The top opportunities Identity transformation creates include:

1. Bridging the satisfaction gap

By implementing frictionless Identity experiences, U.S. state and local agencies can quickly close the gap between the private sector satisfaction benchmarks. When residents can seamlessly move between agency services with a single, secure Identity, they can reduce the burden of unnecessary in-person visits.

2. Driving service adoption

When Identity verification becomes simple and trusted, transaction abandonment plummets and service adoption soars. This means carefully designed digital services will finally reach their intended audience at scale, delivering the ROI agencies have been working toward.

3. Enabling innovation and expansion

Adding new digital services becomes more cost-effective and less complex with a solid Identity foundation. Technology leaders can focus on complex modernization initiatives rather than repeatedly solving the same Identity challenges, creating a virtuous cycle of improved services and increased resident trust.

The unified vision: Amplifying digital impact

A unified resident Identity platform solves today's challenges and creates new possibilities for the future of government service delivery. With Okta, U.S. agencies are empowered to consolidate disparate systems, deploy new services confidently, and make the seamless cross-agency experiences that residents increasingly expect.

For U.S. state and local government technology leaders, modern Identity solutions are the key to unlocking the full potential of a range of digital investments while establishing the foundation for future innovations.

For government CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, and digital experience leaders ready to unleash the full potential of digital services, Okta offers specialized solutions designed to meet the requirements of the U.S. public sector. By downloading our user journey mapping, agencies can transform resident experiences, increase service adoption, and accelerate digital vision.