Security: Build confidence

As governments look to build trust through experiences, protecting and securing people’s personal information has to be a priority.

Not surprisingly, people’s concerns about the security of their personal information influence their views of public service experiences—and their confidence in these interactions. Many are concerned about agencies’ ability to secure their personal information and use it appropriately.

This skepticism reveals a troubling confidence gap. It’s fair to assume that most people intuitively understand there are very real threats to government assets, websites and infrastructure given the world we live in. Closing this confidence gap is key to making people feel more comfortable accessing public services.

Addressing this data security issue goes beyond a technology fix. It is also a critically important training issue for the agency workforce. Employee learning doesn’t change public confidence, but it can help to prevent future breaches, which can further erode confidence. Training approaches should go beyond checking regulatory boxes. Truly changing behavior starts with engaging content and human-centered learning models. Because human fallibility is every organization’s biggest security risk

What’s heartening is that despite the confidence gap and security-related concerns, people are willing to share more data with government if it improve service delivery. This finding highlights the critical relationship between service quality and confidence in government.