11-Oct-2011
1
David Appel & Bo Helbæk Thomsen
SKAT, Denmark
FTA-TSG - Dublin 28-30 september 2011
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
SMT Study Presentation Outline
1. Presentation of the TSG Social Media Study (5 min)
2. Survey results of the SMT Report (15 min)
3. Considerations when deploying SMT (15 min)
4. Implementation in revenue bodies channel strategy (15 min)
5. Plenary discussion
11-Oct-2011
2
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Background
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
The Study - Questionnaire
Questionnaire:
•Designed with task group members
•Issued to all members of the Taxpayer Services Sub-group
•Twenty six (26) survey responses received…
•…basis for the information and analysis provided in report chapter III
11-Oct-2011
3
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
The Study - Research
Research undertaken to:
•better understand the nature and potential of the emerging social media technologies
•Acquire basic best practice knowledge from leading private sector and third party consulting experience
•Key elements of this work described in Chapters II and IV of the report.
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Okay… So What Is Social Media Again?
11-Oct-2011
4
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
SMT Study Presentation Outline
1. Presentation of the TSG Social Media Study (5 min)
2. Survey results of the SMT Report (15 min)
3. Considerations when deploying SMT (15 min)
4. Implementation in revenue bodies channel strategy (15 min)
5. Plenary discussion (45 min)
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Scope of Initiatives
SMT Experience by
Share of Countrie
Basic
Broad
Advanced
No Expereince
Side 8
•16 of 26 countries reported any (substantial) experience
•13 countries have broad experience
•Australia has advanced experience…
•…Mexico, USA, Canada, Denmark and UK are following
•6 countries have a social media strategy + 3 being developed
11-Oct-2011
5
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Social Media Technology Deployment
Number of countries by social media tools:
• Twitter: 13
• YouTube: 13
• Facebook: 6
• RSS: 5
• Webinars: 3
• Others: (LinkedIn, Flickr, DIGG, Second Life, blogs, audio/videocasts etc.) 9
• Internal use (Yammer, intranet, online forums, webinars, Wikipedia etc.): 5
Share of SMT by type Twitter
YouTube
RSS
Webinars
Others
Internal use
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Nature of Initiatives
•Twitter: Promoting key messages, news
•YouTube: Instructions, advice, awareness
•Facebook: Promotion of new services, marketing
•Yammer: Internal knowledge / experience sharing, community
11-Oct-2011
6
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Rationale
Increase taxpayers’ use of online services, by:
•Education
•Marketing
Customer involvement in:
•Product / service evaluation
•Product innovation
Change customer perceptions:
•Promotion of taxoffice image
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Benefits
•Better and more effective communication
•Better ability to meet customer expectations
•A capability to test and use customer response
•A higher take up of e-tax products
11-Oct-2011
7
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Positive and Negative Experiences
Positive Negative
Least labour intensive
investment in SMT, positive
attention and engaging in
dialogue, input from people
who were unlikely to have
provided feedback through
the conventional written
channel
Negative feedback about
services or about the level of
engagement in SMT,
Time consuming
Ability to act with
fans/customers in real-time,,
able to target advertising
based on customers profiles,
Monitoring can be time
consuming,
Engaging after taxtime can be
challenging,
Youtube
Provision of information well
received ,
Webinars Positive feedback,
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Use of Taxpayers’ Contributions
•Participants recruited for user studies and user involvement in projects
•Suggestions or complaints are forwarded to appropriate areas for review
•Feedback show wich tax issues are of greatest impact to citizens and taxpayers; used for better communication
•Feedback has been actively considered and has influenced decisions
•Helpful suggestions in tweets are sahred with the divisions concerned and incoporated into publicity programmes.
11-Oct-2011
8
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Survey Results: Risks Involved
Risks expected by tax administrations when engaging in Social Media + digital administration:
•Unsanctioned employee use leading to breaches of privacy and integrity;
•Provision of misleading and inaccurate information;
•Involvement in political content and exchanges;
•Phishing, spoofing and other attacks.
…no actual experience of these risks was reported in survey responses!
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
11-Oct-2011
9
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
SMT Study Presentation Outline
1. Presentation of the TSG Social Media Study (5 min)
2. Survey results of the SMT Report (15 min)
3. Considerations when deploying SMT (15 min)
4. Implementation in revenue bodies channel strategy (15 min)
5. Plenary discussion
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Developing a Social Media Strategy
With their ‘POST’ method, Forrester Research suggests a four step planning process for building a social media strategy:
into account.
Start with the questions:
11-Oct-2011
10
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
•See report for further details…
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Three-layer business case framework suggested in report (Li & Bernoff):
11-Oct-2011
11
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
• It’s simply how social media enables tax administrations to interact with tax payers in an efficient manner…
• …the effort should be measured accordingly - like any other channel
• It follows that corresponding SMT metrics to gauge ROI in tax administration use be defined with this purpose in mind, and thus…
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Accenture describes how policies can be seen to evolve through 3 progressive levels of maturity / distinct stages:
1) ,
2) ; and
3)
Characteristics of higher levels:
+ More advanced = higher potential value of SMT initiative + enabling & empowering + comprehensive guidelines = uniform quality in service delivery
- More demanding of Tax Administration in development phase + takes courage to empower in a new field
11-Oct-2011
12
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Policy focus on generic guidelines and protecting the organization:
• This occurs when an organization ‘suddenly realizes that it needs a policy quickly, without having anything at present’.
• This type of social media policies often look the same, and typically…
Verdict: Not very helpful, given alternatives
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
• Information-stage policies vary by organizations, and – while protecting the organization’s unique values – it helps employees protect themselves when engaging professionally in social media
• Having addressed the risk of social media, to really harvest the benefits of social media, the organization must begin to use and tailor its social media in ways that support the goals, culture and business processes. This includes…….
11-Oct-2011
13
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
• Differentiation-stage policies focuses on optimizing SMT deployment and employees are seen as ambassadors for the goals of the organization on social media platforms
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
11-Oct-2011
14
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Side 27
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
11-Oct-2011
15
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
SME Tax Forum
• ‘Interactive online closed community’
• Members: Business owners
• New way to identify opportunities and reduce compliance costs
• Uses social media to engage directly with small and medium enterprices (SMEs)
• Enables ATO to better understand small business
• Provides excellent channel between SMEs and ATO
Side 29
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
SMT Study Presentation Outline
1. Presentation of the TSG Social Media Study (5 min)
2. Survey results of the SMT Report (15 min)
3. Considerations when deploying SMT (15 min)
4. Implementation in revenue bodies channel strategy (15 min)
5. Plenary discussion
11-Oct-2011
16
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration Implementing SMTs in channel strategy:
Channel strategy purpose
• Delivering services to customers efficiently and cost-effectively
• Meeting a high customer satisfaction
• Comply with IT-security expectations
• Securing citizens legal rights.
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration Implementing SMTs in channel strategy :
Situation analysis
• Consider the services, customers and channels…
• What do you want to achieve – and are you using the right tool?
• ”uh…Facebook!..” may not always be the best answer…
11-Oct-2011
17
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Implementing SMTs in channel strategy:
SMT value and benefits
•Testing and using customer response by involving customers in product evaluation and innovation
•Delivering effective communication
•Meeting customer expectations and securing a higher take up of e-tax products
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration Implementing SMTs in channel strategy:
SMT challenges, risks & problems
11-Oct-2011
18
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration Implementing SMTs in channel strategy:
strategic considerations Diagram 3. Preliminary maturity model
Customer involvement
Strategic commitment to SMTs .
No time constraints: Smart/ mobility technologies- Audiocasts, videocasts,
RSS-feeds, but no social process.
Social-beginner
stage: Have a face on
Facebook. One way information. Upload on Youtube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, but not responding
to comments.
Communicating stage:
Two-way communication. Youtube, Flickr,
Twitter, Facebook, live chat, blogs &
forums making posts & uploads &
responding to comments & making
evaluation of the user comments.
Participating stage:
Use of collective knowledge,
involvement of users in business
evaluation and innovation.
Tools: Facebook groups, blogs,
forums, ”closed” websites.
Techniques: anthropological
interviews, crowd-sourcing, co-
creation
Higher complexity/ higher focus on outcomes
Social Media Technologies
and Tax Administration
Thank You For Your Attention
