Reflections from SLACS 2025: Changing Faces, Smarter Services

This week, Glasgow brought the energy (and the sun!), but the Scottish Local Authorities Customer Service Managers' Group meet-up brought the real insight.

We were also excited to launch our new partnership with Engage Process - giving councils a joined-up way to connect citizen feedback with smarter service design and continuous improvement. Read more about our collaboration here.

Here are a few standout takeaways from the day:

🔧 Camden Council, led by Phil Quickenden, shared how they've re-engineered customer service over the last 24 months - resulting in a 19% reduction in average call centre wait times. The real driver? Giving staff autonomy to make the right decisions.

🧠 Chris Wright from Perth and Kinross Council tackled the big question: “Is AI stripping the soul from customer service?” His answer - an emphatic no. With IT and customer service working under one roof, the team used Engage Process to map journeys and uncover big opportunities for improvement.

📉 Over at Redbridge, Abbi Cole showed how just 25% of residents were satisfied with the web experience - until they dug into the data with GovMetric. Identifying pain points, assessing journeys, and acting on feedback helped reduce failure demand and save the council serious money. We will share more on our joint journey shortly!

🤖 Fife Council's Matthew Rowe and Joe Bell explored smarter self-service and the importance of redesigning business processes to reduce avoidable contact. It’s not just about tech - it’s about rethinking what the customer really needs.

📊 The workshop on metrics was a highlight - time to ditch manual measurement and start tracking outcomes and failure demand. If you’re only measuring phones, you’re only seeing a fraction of the story.

🚪 Finally, Lucy McKenzie and Angela Doyle from Aberdeen City Council shared their "new front door" approach, improving digital content and even pulling insights from Facebook comments - powered by AI.

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories. There's a clear message: data is the lever, but people and process are still the gears.

Let’s keep the conversation going. What’s one thing you’ll stop, start, or keep measuring after SLACS?

Find all our materials from the day here.

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If you would like to discover some of our Customer Stories, highlighting real-world customer experience transformations within the public sector, click below.

MORE PUBLIC SECTOR STORIES