East Herts District council uses GovMetric to....deliver
cashable efficiency savings
When the new National Indicator 14 ("Avoidable Contact")
requirement was launched in October 2008, East Hertfordshire
District Council decided to use the process as an opportunity to
improve their Parking service. They had already initiated a
Customer Service Improvement programme which combined customer
insight from GovMetric with process and technology improvements,
aiming to deliver a high level of customer satisfaction,
organisational efficiency and first point of contact
resolution.
The process began by using GovMetric's Avoidable Contact module
to help staff capture information about thousands of customer
interactions in the Parking service. This revealed that over 50% of
customer services' Parking contacts were avoidable - primarily
around progress chasing around challenges to, or payments of,
penalty charge notices. Overall, the initial data capture and
analysis phase gave rise to 34 recommendations for improvement, and
almost £50,000-worth of potential efficiency savings.
A key finding was that 74% of contacts could be well served by a
self-service, automated process around penalty charges, and a
self-service system was introduced following a pilot period. The
results were striking.
- Within the first three weeks, 70% of transactions were
resolved within the automated system.
- 844 staff hours per annum were saved in their customer services
and parking departments through a combination of the automated
system and listening to customer feedback, providing the
information required upfront to reduce customer queries.
- The additional resource was shared with other
departments, preventing the need to employ temporary staff in
busier times
- Staff availability for customers improved
- Challenges can be processed much faster, as the customer also
provides "right first time" information
- Staff are happier as the number of emotional (angry) callers
has reduced
In addition, GovMetric is now being used to monitor ongoing
customer feedback about their experience, with initial responses
having been positive.
"The Govmetric data has allowed us to demonstrate the
success of the system, through showing avoidable contact, to the
council in a simple fashion."
David Lindill, Transformation Office, East Herts
Council"
To find out more contact Kate at kate.rose@govmetric.com