Agenda item

An update on the customer service centre and the automated phone system will be given to the Panel.

With the aid of a report by the Customer Service Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Customer Services Performance was presented to the Panel.

Mr J Bedingfield of the Mosaic Team was in attendance to give a demonstration of the customer services portal. The basis for the portal is to address a number of issues the Council are facing including: avoidable contact, limited opening hours, rekeying e-form data, few updates given to customers and rising customer expectations.

The demonstration covered the portal from the customer and back office perspectives. The portal will enable the customer to self-serve which will reduce avoidable contact. There will also be the opportunity to work collaboratively with partner organisations so that the portal could become a one stop shop for all local government based services.

In response to a question on provision for people with visual impairments, the Panel was informed that the Council’s website can be viewed by people with visual impairments and that the portal will be built to the same specifications. There are also criteria that has to be adhered to and the portal will be measured on those. The Council will also use an external organisation to measure the accessibility of the portal.

Following a question on the provision for those people who are unable to use online services, Members were informed that the Council will still continue to have the Customer Services team. It was made clear though that the direction of travel is migrating services online. The portal will offer customers choice as it will operate 24/7.

Members were informed that the portal is an off the shelf product which just needs to be configured for the Council’s requirements. There will not be a go live date in the traditional sense but there will be a launch date and bits will be added as and when they are configured. In terms of impact, West Norfolk Council, who operate the same system, have experienced a 30% drop in face to face visits and a 20% drop in calls since its introduction. The Council have also visited Councils who have adopted the system and the feedback was positive. On the whole the portal demonstration was positively received by the Panel.

The second segment of the item covered customer services performance and the Automated Phone System. The Executive Councillor for Digital and Customer gave a short introduction to the segment. Members were informed that since the introduction of the Automated Phone System call transfers were down 74% in September and 96% in October.

In response to a query regarding call centre customers abandoned in September, the Panel was informed that the customer services team had three new starters and that because they required training there were less staff within team to field calls, therefore leading to more calls being abandoned.

A concern was raised that the survey only has a 20% response rate on a sample size of 10% and is not representative of the average customer services user. In response, it was emphasised that the survey is a random selection of customers and that in order to increase the sample size then the resource that goes into the survey would also have to increase.

A Member commented that they thought that the Customer Services team are very professional but that the team and the Council in general would need to use more Social Media.

In summary, the Panel positively received the demonstration of the portal and the update on the Customer Services performance and Automated Phone System. Members look forward to the continued development and roll out of the portal.

(At 7.13pm, during the consideration of this item, Councillor R Fuller left the meeting and did not return.)