The experience of Census

 If you haven’t heard about the Australian Census debacle yet then you must be truly be a social recluse. The traditional, Digital and Social Media is ablaze with the shameful story of the Census website being pulled down on the big day of Australian Census (Aug 9th) after 4 cyber-attacks (DDoS attacks). Everyone is busy finger pointing in every direction. Prime Minister Turnbull has expressed deep disappointment, slammed the Department of Australian Bureau of Statistics (who conduct the Census) and the lead IT Services team, IBM. He has warned that heads will roll over this census failure.  I am sure you may have also read several other blazing articles highlighting how much the Department has spent on individual services and why the tax payers feel cheated etc.

Malcolm Turnbull has an ambitious Digital dream for Australia and this census was a key starting point in the journey. This census is being conducted as an online survey and collects some additional personal details about all residents in Australia. The objective is to collect as much information to create an accurate, unified, centralised Digital persona that can then feed into a variety of related Government departments. A successful online census would also lead to Digital polling / voting.  All of that came crashing down with the website being pulled down.

The blame game is also getting interesting as the IT vendors and IT community at large are saying that this isn’t really a cyberattack - the Department was not ready for the peak load.

 I do not want to get into IBM or ABS bashing. I want to highlight some key learning to ABS and really for all of us… about the entire experience of Census! We live in the experience era – it’s all about creating memorable and likable experiences for our users. How do we want the experience of Census to be for the residents of Australia? How do we make the Census experience more likable and memorable? How do we educate the residents about Census, its importance, the process to complete the census? How can residents seek help or find self-help, and so on?

I think ABS scored poorly on all these points and I am not sure if IBM can be blamed for it. Let’s review some of these points.

 Are the people Aware?

As a resident of Melbourne who incidentally happens to work in the same building as ABS in Docklands, I must admit that I was blissful unaware of the important Census date of August 9th until a friend reminded me that non-compliance attracts a fine. I was aware of the upcoming census, heard it may be once on morning news, but it really had not registered as an activity that every resident had to carry out and the onus was on us.

The last time I had a census experience in the US and in India, it involved government authorised officials knocking on the door, sometimes trying to peak in, asking for information about the number of residents in the house and some other basic questions.  If were not at home then they would come back at a later time. Hence it really didn’t matter at large whether we residents knew about the census dates were or how to complete the census.

Australia conducted census in a similar fashion until this year. For the first time Australia moves towards a Digital / online channel. This is a Change! And the first step of change management is spreading awareness – over the top, loud announcements highlighting the change through all channels. For e.g. we could have hoardings at railway stations, airports, public venues, public transport, on TV, on social media, news websites, government websites, etc.

I did not see any such advertising at all, at least in Melbourne. In fact even now the website does not have much that spreads awareness. There is no communication or adverts even outside the ABS building itself (our office building). Especially when there is a monetary penalty for non-compliance, the Government must ensure that there is enough and more awareness created. There is a lot that could have be done to spread awareness. It’s not too late even now… considering that the entire nation is now aware that they have to complete the census online.

 Is our process Simple enough?

When I tried completing the census on August 9th the website was still active. However I could not go beyond the first page itself since I needed a 12 digit number to continue. There is no link or help on the website that suggests what this 12 digit number is or how I can procure it? My friend showed me the letter he received in post addressed to the resident of the property.

We had not received any such letter and so I searched the website to find more information about procuring this 12 Digit number. Calling ABS was not an option as the website clearly asked visitors to call back the following day due to high call volumes. Finally I found a link to send queries that I completed and to my surprise I got an acknowledgement on the site stating that there may be delay in receiving a response from ABS. After 2 days I received a simple email acknowledging my query and providing me with a tracking ticket number. 2 days just to issue a ticket number is an awful long time, and this really should not have any dependency on the website debacle!!

I think ABS could have done much better in this area as well. ABS will have to remember that most residents may trash any letter that is addressed ‘To the resident’. They could make arrangements to send reminder mails with the details or provide a simple link on their website allowing visitors to request for their access number. An alternate way could be to tie up with Post Offices, Centrelink or such Government facilities to provide the 12 digit number upon validating the license or passport showing current proof of address.

 Is the process Secure and Authentic?

As the Prime Minister mentioned, a DDoS attack is just as expected as a rising sun each morning. Let’s assume that IBM has all the necessary security in place and all our data is secure and this may just have been solar eclipse day for them.  However a basic expectation we have these days is that websites will have some mechanism to segregate humans from botnets / computers… some

form of ‘Captcha’. What surprises me is that there is nothing even now?

Secondly, on the letter front - how do I know if someone has taken the letter from my mailbox and completed the census on my behalf already? How can ABS confirm the authenticity of an entry? Hence if ABS is planning on creating a Digital Persona of me using this information then it may be potentially erroneous.

In my opinion, such online surveys and polling will be more effective once all residents have a secure Digital online ID. Until then there is always potential for error in the details entered. However basic checks and balances can be in place.

Is there a Mobile app for it?

In today’s mobile age, I am surprised that there is no Mobile App for entering the census information. ABS could easily create an integrated system with the Cellular service providers to validate the address of the user in their systems and send the secure 12 Digit number to the cell phone as a back-up if necessary. This also allows for an automatic recognition of the 12 digit number and auto populating it into the app to avoid any error.

This could also address the congestion issue since users could use their Mobile app to enter the information any time during the day and complete it in stages if necessary. The mobile app can create a session and secure it on the user’s phone for later use. A very small effort for ABS but could go a long way in customer convenience and satisfaction!

Is there enough help?

Enough said about this in the earlier sections, but simply put there isn’t much help available around the most crucial points. Which makes me wonder if this entire process had the user (residents) in mind at all?  Which also leads me to wonder about the overall governance process in this important activity?

I am sure the Government has learnt some key lessons in the process but I hope that in the future they will also consider the Experience factor!