Agenda item

Joint Report of the Corporate Director Neighbourhood Services and Assistant Chief Executive.

The Committee received a joint report and presentation of the Corporate Director Neighbourhood Services and Assistant Chief Executive which provided an update on progress made against recommendations from the Customer First Task and Finish Group Review (for copy of report and slides of presentation see file of minutes).

The Head of Projects and Business Services provided a presentation which provided an update on the following:

·         Telephony

·         Digital: Website, Digital Durham, E-Store and Information Durham

·         Social Media

·         CRM & planning.

With regard to telephony it was reported that the council had in recognising that there were too many numbers in the public domain, conducted a review and had reduced the councils published numbers by 90. In addition any 0845 numbers previously used by the council had now been switched over to 03000 to harmonise contact numbers across the authority. In addition a number of services had been transitioned to ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) and to date this had proved very successful across the following schemes:-

·         Blue Badges

·         Sustainable transport

·         Sundry Debt

·         Housing Solutions.

It was reported that the council’s new website had now been launched creating a more efficient layout which made it easier for residents to access council services. It was further reported that data showed that more visits to the website were now being made by mobiles and tablets.

The Head of Projects and Business Services then went on to provide an update on Digital Durham and its successes to date. A query was raised regarding the abbreviation THP and The Head of ICT Services advised that this stood for Total Households Passed and included both business and residential properties.

Moving on an update was provided in respect of channel shift and it was reported that 78% of sign ups and payment was completely automated. This showed that there was an appetite for automated payment lines.

Further details were provided regarding ongoing work to introduce an E-store within the council’s website which would take card payments for a transportable basket style checkout, allowing the customer to pay for more than one service at a time, similar to that used by Amazon. The facility would also allow for customers to store their details for returning transactions and provide customers with a payment history and access to copy receipts.

In addition to the above, it was reported that the service had carried out a full review of Customer Service Access Point provision following which, Information Durham, a consistent identification of information and self-serve opportunities had been introduced.

With regard to social media it was recognised that this was a growing customer contact channel which was now filtered through Customer Services and addressed by the relevant service.

As a larger piece of work the council had conducted a review of CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Phase 1 of the review saw developments being made to various aspects including; introducing 115 new webforms, 13 new web payments and a review of all business processes. The Head of Projects and Business Services advised that Phase1 would see a huge improvement to back office services and it was planned that this phase would be completed by April 2016. It was further reported that Phases 2&3 were progressing very quickly and it was anticipated that this would be completed by April 2017. Other service features would also be incorporated into the system further down the line including Culture and Sport.

The presentation further gave an illustrative example regarding the cashable benefits to the authority and it was noted that any savings made as a result of such would either be filtered back into the service or identified as savings revenue. With regard to non-cashable benefits it was noted that the key aim would be to provide better services and improve customer satisfaction.

Further progress updates would be provided quarterly as outlined in the action plan along with providing an annual update to Cabinet.

Councillor Martin raised a query regarding Superfast Broadband commenting that although Fibre had been installed at Neville’s Cross, properties in the areas surrounding the Cock of North site were receiving worse service now than prior to its installation. In referencing page 84 (iii) of the report he further commented that every effort should be made to encourage central government to change current planning legislation to ensure that all new homes allowed for the inclusion of broadband/digital connectivity.

In addition Councillor Martin raised a query regarding the App ‘Looking Local’ which linked into the CRM system and asked whether this would still continue to be in use once the updates to CRM and website were complete. In addition he felt that councillors should be able to access CRM data in order to better assess local issues and asked whether this would be possible in the future.

In response The Head of Projects and Business Services advised that the new system would have this feature fully integrated and with such there would be no requirement for the existing 3^rd party app. It was further noted that work with elected members would be ongoing to ensure that the new system met those needs and requirements as identified. The Head of Planning and Performance advised that it was the intention to establish a task and finish group specifically looking at how CRM can support councillors and nomination from interested members was sought.

At this point the Head of ICT Services advised that the laying of fibre for new developments was a continuous problem as BT were reluctant to use other fibre, however it had been suggested that housing providers simply provide ducting to allow the process to be completed more efficiently. He further commented that by next year 98% of properties in County Durham would have access to superfast broadband, equal to 82,000 properties.

Councillor Hillary made reference to paragraph 122 and asked what the main reasons were for the significant decrease in footfall at CAPs. In response the Customer Relations, Policy and Performance Manager advised that there was a reduction in those visiting and this could be partly attributed to less repeat visits and taking less cash for services.

Councillor Wilkes commented that in previous meetings he had requested a full list to be provided of all services offered online by other councils. This could be compared against what DCC were offering online along with an explanation as to what DCC were planning to do to either introduce these features or reasons as to why they were not required or feasible. In response the Head of Projects and Business Services advised that this information could be provided to a future meeting.

In conclusion the Head of Planning and Performance reminded members that nominations were sought from those wishing to take part in the CRM Task and Finish group.

Resolved:

That the content of the report be noted.