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businesses, other governments, and employees. Appendix E provides an
overview of departmental services by customer type. DOL's categorization of its
customers has provided the basis for further analysis and segmentation to
target and improve customer service. Analysis is based on customers and
services, not on the agencies that provide the services; it, therefore, helps
integrate DOL's efforts into the broader Federal approaches to customer
identification and service improvement.
IMPROVING CUSTOMER VALUE
The set of activities an organization performs to create and distribute
its goods and services-including direct activities, such as procurement and
production, and indirect activities, such as human resources and finance-is
known as the "value chain." In the private sector, companies achieve
competitive advantage by linking the activities in the value chain less
expensively or more expertly than do competitors. In the public sector, the
concept of the value chain is most often applied to improving customer service.
With the advent of the Internet, the concept of the value chain is
coming to be superseded by that of the value network. For example, the focus on
G2C (Government to Citizen) services in today's customer-driven value chain is
evolving into a focus on C2B2G2B2C (Citizen to Business to Government to
Business to Citizen) in the new value network. To best serve the Department's
customers today, DOL needs to redefine its relationships with other agencies,
businesses, and suppliers to add the greatest possible value-from the
customer's perspective. In this way, DOL becomes not just a service provider
but also a participant in value creation for the customer. The key to value
creation is working with customers to understand their requirements, then
networking with other transaction partners to deliver superior service. Figure
5 provides an overview of the value creation process.
Figure 5. DOL Value Creation
Process
As shown in Figure 5, there are four basic steps in the value creation
process: (1) understanding customer requirements, (2) exploring areas for
improvement, (3) defining possible solutions, and (4) prioritizing
opportunities. This process demands that the Department, its customers, and
other organizations serving the same customers work together to identify
service requirements and
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