Customer Access Improvement service

Why is this service needed?

Collecting and analysing customer data will identify routes to major cost saving through channel shift, reduction in avoidable contact, and process improvement.

• How do your costs compare with other, similar councils?
• How much could your council save through channel shift and reducing avoidable contact?
• What can you learn from other councils' approaches to channel management?

"Why does total cost of contact (web/phone/face-to-face) in a Channel Value Benchmarking sample of UK single tier councils vary from over £18 per head of population to under £10? The first council is spending £5.6m a year on 'front office' customer contact; the second is spending £2.5m. (The first council does cover a larger population, but only 20% larger)." - From: Better served: customer access, efficiency and channel shift (Socitm Insight, February 2011)

Generate major, permanent cost savings through better customer management

Up to now, comparable information about channel costs, availability, usage and satisfaction has been in short supply. So, too, has evidence and support for making the case for changed approaches to customer management. Our Channel Value Benchmarking Service is filling this gap by enabling councils to work together to:

• identify the cost of providing access to services through different channels, including phone, web and face-to-face
• compare these with other, similar councils
• identify and compare usage and satisfaction for all these different channels
• identify costs associated with 'avoidable contact'
• provide evidence for 'value-for money' reviews
• share experience and identify best practice.

How the service will be provided

Participants will be asked to collect specified data from their organisations, and complete a return by a specified date.

During this process they will have access to support from the benchmarking team.

The methodology follows that of Socitm's other benchmarking activities, such as the long-running Benchmarking the ICT Service series. As providers of the service, Socitm Insight undertakes to:

• safeguard the confidentiality of individual participating organisations
• provide participants with a full briefing pack and launch workshop about the survey, including the agreed questionnaire
• provide telephone support
• process the results from the questionnaires that are completed
• provide for the participating organisations a comprehensive report and full analysis of the results
• hold a workshop to discuss the lessons to be learnt and the management implications
• include the results and key case studies in the next Socitm Insight briefing on benchmarking for all subscribers.

Subscribers are expected to:

• nominate a co-ordinator who will be expected to play a pro-active role.
• safeguard the confidentiality of individual participating organisations.
• return the completed questionnaire by the specified date.
• attend the workshops (two persons allowed per authority).

Who will use the information?

Customer access to services is a corporate issue and a range of managers will be interested in the results from this service, including:

• directors of finance / resources / efficiency / performance
•  directors of customer services
•  heads of transformation
•  those responsible for the corporate website and contact/call centre(s)
•  member portfolio holders for customer service and/or transformation

Subscriber benefits

Get support and collaboration in identifying the cost of providing access to services: developing robust, meaningful, and comparable figures around the cost of providing your website, phone and face-to-face services is not easy. The service enables you to tackle this task in collaboration with experienced colleagues from other local authorities, and with the support of Socitm experts who are knowledgeable in costing other, related services.

Measure your council's costs against those of other, similar councils: the value of benchmarking to improve performance is well understood - over 50% of all councils have used one of Socitm's ICT benchmarking services, and their results have become increasingly important in defining service contracts and in providing evidence for value-for-money reviews.

Network with colleagues also working on channel management and 'avoidable contact': the discussions at all our workshops indicate that almost all local authorities are in the early stages of developing strategies and plans for customer access or channel management. Many are still trying to overcome channel 'silos'.

The Channel Value Benchmarking Service provides an invaluable network of people, coming from a rich variety of backgrounds (web, e-government, customer service, ICT, performance) for participants to network with around a common set of issues.

Receive two free places at our bi-annual workshops: each subscribing organisation is entitled to send two representatives free of charge to our one-day Customer Access Improvement workshops, held twice a year. These popular events include presentations on innovation and best practice in the areas of website take-up, channel management and customer access. They provide an excellent opportunity to network with other professionals involved in the areas of customer access, customer service, contact centre and web management.

Use benchmarking results and annual briefing: all subscribers will receive their own results and see them benchmarked against results from other participating councils. Each year, all subscribers will receive the Customer Access Improvement briefing that provides a summary of Channel Value Benchmarking results alongside summary results from the Website Take-Up service and GovMetric. The briefing includes case studies, analysis and other content on website take-up, channel management and customer access.

Download the leaflet

"Where characteristics such as these are common to a group of organisations then there is scope for external comparison and benchmarking. An outstanding example of this comes from Socitm which is adept at developing and conducting benchmarking exercises within the local authority sector within the UK. These have produced valuable information." - From: Review of ICT Infrastructure in the Public Sector in Scotland, June 2011 by John McLelland CBE

How to subscribe

Numbers of participants will be limited and accepted on a 'first come, first served' basis.

If you wish to book, please complete this form.

Fees

The fees for 2011 are:

£3,950 for Socitm Insight subscriber (£2,950 for shire districts).
£4,950 for any non-Socitm Insight subscriber.

Timetable for 2011 series	Group 7
Deadline for applications	12 September 2011
Full briefing pack to your survey co-ordinator	13 September 2011
Launch workshop in London (provisional)	20 September 2011
Deadline for return of questionnaires	1 November 2011
Results discussed at workshop in London	15 December 2011

Notes

If you miss the deadline for the return of the questionnaires, we will not be able to process your results.
If you decide not to go ahead having authorised the order, there may be a cancellation charge of at least 50%.