Agenda item

There will be a presentation on this item at the meeting.

Amanda George, Director of Business Change and Customer Services, gave a presentation to the Panel which covered the following:

·  Customer Contact Strategy – What we know

·  Customer Contact Strategy – 10 Principles

·  The Strategy – by channel, we will …

·  ‘Agile’ Methodology for Projects

·  Customer Contact Strategy – Current Programme

·  Programme Progress – High Level Plan

·  Customer Contact Strategy Governance

·  Summary and Next Steps (Focus always on user needs)

Panel Members asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Elliott stated that ‘Agile’ methodology suits some projects but not all. The officer agreed and explained that it was used for testing and trials.

Councillor MacFie explained some frustrations as a user/consumer of the system, he gave an example of waiting 5 hours for a phone response. He stated that while the organisation may be saving time, is this resulting in taking up the consumer’s time. The officer responded that part of the methodology is to talk to service users and that information will feed into the process redesign. She explained that the goal was to improve user experience. Councillor Furse stated the importance of training and culture and also that there are internal customers who may struggle with some of the digital systems. The officer explained that any redesign must be fully embedded, there is a training and culture workstream which should benefit internal and external customers.

Councillor Duguid stated that ‘Councillor Direct’ was very valuable and asked about ‘Fix My Street’. The officer explained that the system is perfectly good but needs some further development as some of the scripting is not up to standard. Most issues are relatively easy to resolve and most customer feedback is positive.

Councillor Singleton asked where Councillors sit in terms of customers. He stated that a lot of phone calls and emails go unanswered, he stated that this is inefficient and concerning. He stated that a resident had tried a Council number three times and it had rung out. The officer explained that there were currently too many numbers on the website and these contact points will be reduced. She stated that the volume of emails received can be extremely high. ‘Councillor Direct’ is a dedicated service.

Councillor Hughes stated that the email volume may be high because people have not had a response on the phone.

Councillor Hughes asked how surveys are carried out, are they all online. The officer explained that the Voicebox survey goes to a random selection of BANES residents and is paper based.

Councillor Hodge stated that she would rather look up the correct number than have the automated choices. She asked if the ‘out of office’ message is used for annual leave or when someone is busy. The officer responded that this would predominantly be used for annual leave.

Councillor Warrington stated that people want to phone a person if they get stuck with online systems. Online forms are frustrating if you are unable to save changes. She also pointed out that the figure of 94% quoted regarding internet access does not mean people can always get online due to issues such as rural broadband.

Councillor MacFie stated that when this item comes back to the Panel in 6 months, there will be the first dashboard of Performance Indicators which we can track. The officer agreed that progress can be shown.

The Panel RESOLVED to note the presentation.