Thales Survey Reveals Drivers’ Growing Interest in Digital Services Across the U.S. and Canada

Citizens are seeking convenience, time savings, security/privacy, and increased access to services when considering using digital services.

Knowing customer expectations, especially those relating to technological advancements and user experience, is critical for delivering modern services. However, doing such extensive research can be challenging, especially for state or provincial governments with limited resources. As a partner to our North America customers, Thales is committed to supporting these efforts.

This comprehensive survey was conducted through an independent platform with individuals across North America, with the goal of providing our customers valuable insights into the needs and expectations of their citizens. This information has tremendous value to agencies that may be launching new programs, seeking to boost engagement with existing services, or considering other modernization efforts.

At Thales, we believe empowering our customers to better serve their communities – while meeting evolving expectations of access, convenience, data privacy, and security – is fundamental to our mission of building a future we can all trust.

Key Insights Learned

A desire to listen, learn, and make improvements ensures the continual enhancement of services and customer experiences. Through this survey, Thales can provide key insights and measurable data to help guide agency modernization and improvement efforts, a few of which are listed here:

Citizens are largely satisfied with the services provided by their DMVs. Responses reflect an impressive 3.8 out of 5 stars customer satisfaction rating, with 68% of respondents expressing satisfaction or full satisfaction with their DMV services. This trend appears to grow by age group, starting at 56% for 18-24 year-olds up to 80% for those 65 and older.

Access to more services, through more self-service channels, is highly desired. There is widespread enthusiasm for doing things more conveniently, including using self-service kiosks and online service portals to perform routine services more quickly and easily.

Speaking of Kiosks, there is good interest by citizens to use them for DMV services. 2 out of 3 of respondents indicate they would use, or have already used, a self-service kiosk rather than an agent to obtain DMV services. Additionally, 41 states and 7 provinces showing moderate or good likelihood scores (60-74% or > 75% respectively).

Adoption of mobile Driver Licenses (mDLs), or Digital IDs, help lead the way for redesigned services. A significant preference (nearly 70%) is shown for obtaining an mDL or Digital ID through an official government channel, like a state-sponsored wallet, versus other channels - with 65% of overall respondents showing interest in obtaining mDLs and Digital IDs.

There is a good desire to do more through online or remote capabilities. While 76% of DMV interactions are reported as in-person, interest in doing these services online is growing – especially as 56% reported spending 30 minutes or more during their in-person visit. Notably, those with the highest likelihood, 80%, to use an online portal for DMV services is the Baby Boomer generation (ages 65+) and not Generation Z (ages 18-24, commonly known as most interested in technology and online services) which reported a 56% likelihood.

These findings clearly show that convenient, value-added services can drive transformation. But, assurance for trust and security of these technologies is critical in order to alleviate concerns around data security and privacy. Understanding and addressing these points up front will provide smoother adoption as well as a better user experience.