DHS touts customer experience improvements

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials are espousing the benefits of a series of initiatives the agency said has resulted in customer experience improvements.

“Through the talent and dedication of the Department’s employees, we have made significant progress modernizing our delivery of services by harnessing technology and other innovations,” DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said. “There is more work to be done as we continue to improve the customer experience for the millions of individuals with whom we interact every day while advancing equity, protecting individuals’ privacy rights and civil liberties, and increasing our openness, transparency, and accountability.”

Officials cited varied actions implemented in the aftermath of President Joe Biden signing the “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government” Executive Order directing agencies to improve the overall experience for customers accessing government services and benefits.

Per DHS, customer experience improvements delivered within the last year include, among others, accepting mobile driver’s licenses at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints in Arizona, Colorado, and Maryland with plans to expand to other locations in the future; providing disaster survivors with simplified policies with regard to proving their residency or home ownership when applying for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); acting to significantly reduce immigration benefits processing times; and streamlining Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vessel entry and clearance at U.S. seaports, enabling vessels to electronically transmit necessary data, which saves trade companies an estimated $18 million per year.

DHS noted that the agency continues to actively recruit for customer experience, product management, design, software engineering, and data science roles.