Public services represent the most common interactions that people, businesses and organisations have with governments. Putting users at the centre of the design and delivery of public services can improve resource allocation and provide services that respond more effectively to users’ needs and expectations. This can also positively affect satisfaction and trust with governments (OECD, 2022a). The adoption and use of public service standards can help public sector institutions to take a common and consolidated approach to designing and delivering services across institutional boundaries, giving users a more unified experience when they access public services through different channels (online or offline).
Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are adopting standards to define a common approach when designing and delivering government services. Six out of seven surveyed countries have developed a service standard (86%), compared to 85% of OECD countries (28 out of 33) (Figure 9.1). The standards in both LAC and OECD countries have similar purposes and scopes. In all six of the LAC countries with service standards, they cover the requirement to understand user needs or expectations, which is also the case in 76% of OECD countries. They are less frequently used to facilitate cross-border services between countries, since only two out of the six surveyed LAC countries with standards and 30% of OECD countries include this requirement. Similarly, only two LAC countries and 33% of OECD countries use standards to encourage greening efforts among public sector teams and their suppliers (Table 9.1).
To better meet user needs and expectations, governments in the LAC region could make greater efforts to employ service design and user research methods to effectively involve users while designing government services. Less than half of the surveyed LAC countries have adopted methods facilitating a deeper understanding of user needs. Just three LAC countries each use design thinking sessions, focus groups, public consultation through websites and usability testing. A similar pattern is observed among OECD countries except for usability tests, which are adopted by 61%. Only two of the seven countries have embraced A/B testing (compared to 18% of OECD countries) and first-click testing (used by only 9% of OECD countries) (Figure 9.2).
