The problem: Where are we now?

The problem: where we are now.   

Currently, our residents struggle to interact with the council in an efficient manner. For residents who want to transact – i.e., set up a direct debit to pay council tax, make an FoI request, etc – the current process is time consuming and inefficient – for residents and for the council.   

  

  1. Residents have too many routes into the council, for example: telephone; email; website; etc.   

  1. This means that several different members of the council often have to deal with a single request.   

  1. This strains the council’s resources…   

  1. …and means residents can’t get the thing they need – direct debit, FoI request, etc – when they need it.   

  

The issue with more vulnerable residents is more acute and has a longer-term impact.    

  

  1. A vulnerable resident wants a blue badge   

  1. He doesn’t know where to go due to plethora of entry points   

  1. He finds a phone number on the website, hoping to be put through to correct service   

  1. This is time consuming for council staff…   

  1. …and the resident may not get to where he needs to get to   

Because the customer journey is inefficient and because our tech is not joined up...

  1. We cannot connect that vulnerable resident to further services he may need   

  1. If he needs a blue badge, he may also need occupational therapy, help with cost of living, etc.   

  1. If we get these services to him quickly, we can intervene early: a relatively small investment in his health and wellbeing now will likely reduce the need for much more expensive council services in a few years’ time   

Our current systems and processes are inefficient, slow and expensive...

Customers currently have too many entry points into the council when they need to interact with us, whether that’s to make a complaint, request an FoI, or seek help with such things as getting a blue badge (there are many more examples). 

Because customers have the option to connect with us in various ways, they invariably (and understandably) choose the way that is easiest for them: for example, they connect with us on the phone, or send email. 

This puts a huge strain on limited council resources. If a customer emails us, it probably won’t go to the right place, or their request is confused, and it takes a lot of time to sort it out. A single email request may be seen by several members of staff before it gets resolved. The same is true for phone calls. 

This is bad for our customers. Like all of us, our customers want to go in and get out, and get the thing they want as quickly as possible. Think of it as like contacting your bank: years ago, you’d have to go into your local branch to request information about your account; these days, for the most part, you can do all your transactions online. It’s really quick and simple, taking minutes rather than hours. It’s also a let less stressful: you don’t have to wait in a queue during your lunch hour. It’s the same with us. 

So the current system is bad for our customers – and bad for us. A single request can take up considerable time and money, both of which are in short supply at the moment! 

The problem is worse for vulnerable residents...

Of course, it’s one thing for a customer to, say, make an FoI request, and to be held up. (Although that’s important, too.) But the problem is worse for our vulnerable residents. If someone contacts us for, say, a blue badge, then they obviously need it as soon as possible – that blue badge could dramatically improve their quality of life, and helping our residents is ultimately why we all work at the council. So helping that vulnerable resident out as quickly as possible is vital to them, and us. 

However, we know that if a customer comes to us with a request for a blue badge, then the chances are that they have other issues we could help them with. They’re likely to have mobility issues and probably other underlying health problems. 

So, ideally, we’d want to provide them with, say, occupational health services. Of course, this costs money: but by intervening as early as possible, we can make a huge, positive difference to that resident’s life. 

If we don’t intervene early, then in a few years’ time, that resident could well need a lot more help from social services – and with a poorer quality of life.