Improving Service Delivery@ East Herts
Neil Sloper
Head of Customer Service
Agenda
• East Herts• Drivers• Customer Service
Improvement• The Story So Far• Questions.
East Hertfordshire• 14 miles north of London• 184 sq miles, rural, 5 market towns
• Population 131,000, only 2.8% minority groups
• Low levels of deprivation, 346 out of 354, some pockets of relative deprivation.
• 1% unemployment local economy mainly service
• Conservative cabinet system• Judged 'good' in 2004 CPA• 350 employees.
Hertfordshire
Our Strategies
• Promoting prosperity and wellbeing; providing access and opportunities
• Fit for purpose, services fit for you• Pride in East Herts• Caring for what's built and where• Shaping now, shaping the future• Leading the way, working together.
Overall aim:
‘To improve the quality of people's lives and preserve all that is best in East Herts’
Drivers for Improvement
Transformational Government
LGA - Closer to People and
Places
Shared Services & Pathfinder
More for less!!
Local
Challenges
Lyons Enquiry
Local Government White Paper
Comprehensive Spending Review
Public Service Reform
Avoidable Contact
NI14Efficiency NI179
Sustainable Communities Act 2007
Vision
Delivering the same excellent level of customer service regardless of how and where customers contact us, to deal with 80% of enquiries at the first point of contact.
Strategy - Key Themes
Standards & SatisfactionCorporate StandardsConsistent MonitoringCorporate comments, compliments and complaints
Customer AccessSimplifyAccess for allInfluence ChoiceBetter facilities for Customers
Customer InsightSatisfactionService UseCustomer ProfileTake UpService Planning
ChangeBusiness process improvementInvesting in self-serviceCost to serve
Customer
Service
improvement
Customer Service EffectivenessEfficient OrganisationEffect use of technologyImproved process
What Does That Look Like?
A Responsive Council
Efficient response
Citizen Driven CouncilSelf-service,
Engagement in service design and delivery
A Customer Focused Council
Reduced cost of contact, Joined up services,
Service development based on customer use
Reducing Costs and Improving Service
Modernising Service Delivery, Access Channel Management, Joining up Services
Dynamic Customer Feedback, Community Discussion Portals
Know who is contacting us and why.Move simple transactions to self-service.
Giving customers choice of modern access channels.Development based on demand.
Real-time engagement and feedback. Matching service innovation to customer need.
Council Focused Customer Focused
BenefitsImproved/consistent access through a single co-ordinated service.Efficiency dealing with simple enquiries/transactions, releasing professional staff from administration.More cost effective service, movement towards self-service.Customer insight by capturing, recording and evaluating customer contact, use and satisfaction.Knowledge about customers and their needs to target investment and ensure equality of access.
Strategy into Action
• Are you an observer of transformation?
• Do you think outside the box?
Which Way?• Choice of technique? –
Fashion
• Method of change? –Structure not ideas
• Technology?A faster mess?
How do we get there?
Customer View
Resources
Parts
Goal
Route
Information
Can’t do it to people, only with people!
Improvement Package
• Customer Service Function• Website Development• CRM Development• Telephony Development• E-Form Development• Process Improvement• Baseline Cost• Information
Service
Specialist IT Services
Customer Information
• Self-Service• Assisted Service• Professional Service80% @ 1st Contact
Increased Customer Satisfaction + Organisational Efficiency
Customer Contact
• Measurement system
• Data: who, what, where and when
• Service delivery & availability
• Analysis: value and NI 14.
Contact
Customer Contact
telephone, 24000, 38%
face to face, 5000, 8%
website, 12000, 19%
post, 21000, 33%
e-mails, 1000, 2%
74% sample could be self-service
•74% answered in 10 seconds
•35% lost calls
•Average Call 2 minutes
Call Volumes
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Janu
aryFeb
urary
March
April
MayJu
ne July
Augus
tSep
tembe
rOcto
ber
Novembe
rDece
mber
Months
Num
ber o
f Cal
ls
Calls Offered
Calls Answered
Customer View
• A transaction is a journey
• What do we know?
• Scale your research
• Staff View
• Customer View
(GovMetric, Survey, NI14).
Customer View
Basic Journey Map
Penalty Charge Journey Map
Process Improvement• Software
• Customer ‘touch-points’
• The customer’s need?
• Follow transactions
• Asking silly questions
• Validate - Talk through
• Value/no value (NI 14).
Review
ESD Cost Architecture
Costing and Time
• Authoritative Source
• Timing ‘spot on’
• Working with others
• Customer focused approach
• Consistency
• Transparent
• Factual.
Cost of Transactions• Transactions fit broad categories• Including all costs• A baseline• Validates efficiencies• Validates business cases
£4.62
£12.69
£0.17
£12.16
Outcomes• Cost per transaction per channel
and cost to serve awareness
• Customer focus on design and decisions
• Clear case and evidence to support change
• Able to demonstrate our workings and efficiencies!
The Story So Far – The ReviewParking Services
• Trying it out• Review took 21/2 months• 63,000 customer interactions• 7 key process maps• 3 customer satisfaction maps• Cost to serve.
The Story So Far – The Options
Parking Services
• 34 recommendations for improvement
• Efficiencies (cashable and non-cashable worth £48,000)
• NI14 – initial sample 74% of contact could be self-service.
The Story So Far – To do better
Council Tax
• NI14 more robust, GovMetric sampling
• Split calls direct to service from switchboard transfers
• Analyse specific web page sessions.
Final Thoughts - Transformation
• Paint your receptionpink!
• Caterpillar to Butterfly –amazing or predictable?