Agenda item

Members of the Group will feedback on their shadowing experiences in the Contact Centre.

Further to a decision at the first meeting of the Task Group, most Members of the Group had since undertaken shadowing of Contact Centre staff and a summary note of their experiences and the information presented, was circulated.

The note detailed the core infrastructure which had been put in place for the organisation’s contact with the public and the huge investment there had been towards engaging digitally with residents.

Members were shown a prototype of the Council’s new website which was based around large key icons, and would be more user friendly and geared around smart technology. Google analytics showed which Council services residents were most frequently trying to access.

Members received a demonstration of MyAccount from receiving a request from a customer; through to the information officers received including any relevant history;  the processes adopted; notes added by case officers;  through to service delivery and the notification to the customer of the completed job. Officers out and about received information on iPads so that if they were in the vicinity, relevant local jobs could be assessed or completed.

The session had also included an update on e-billing which so far had around 2,500 customers (not 9,000 as stated in the report).

Members commented on how impressed they were by Contact Centre staff - their professionalism, breadth of knowledge, the consistency of advice they gave and their ability to get to the crux of a complaint or problem quickly with members of the public. In response to a query about staff breaks, Asim reported that staff were rotated with different duties; there was no set breaks – it was down to individuals who are encouraged and supported to take regular breaks. Staff were multi-disciplined and training was provided and with experience, they became extremely knowledgeable and able to deal with complex issues and difficult customers.

Members questioned the completeness of the assets list on MyAccount and how the public could add to that information.

Members asked about using the tri-age system of calls and whether someone with two queries could go to pay their Council Tax first for example, and then ask about a refuse collection query by opting to transfer to a customer officer. This wasn’t currently an option but technology was developing. The current phone system was hosted externally which had limitations but improvements were always being investigated.

Members queried the use of account numbers so that all queries could be linked back to a unique number for that resident. This wasn’t currently an option. They did publicise the relevant contact telephone number on all correspondence.

Contact centre staff were generally proactive in registering residents to MyAccount when they phoned in. They would then be emailed with a link when they first accessed it. There were currently 9000 registered users for MyAccount and at some point, applications to register for MyAccount would be saturated and would taper off. Council tax and benefit enquiries were still the highest face to face contacts.

In relation to customer satisfaction, Asim advised that they had looked at different approaches and ways of measuring satisfaction levels and even where the customer experience was good, if the follow up action didn’t take place within a reasonable time, their experience was still rated poor. Therefore they had decided to focus on customer satisfaction across the service from end to end and this was measured corporately. Historic service satisfaction data is available which demonstrated high levels of satisfaction and awards.

AGREED ACTIONS:

1.    Members suggested that it would be useful to speak to a member of the Streetscene team on use of the system from their perspective using iPads and it was agreed Bob Webster, Streetscene and Parks Manager and Jo Oliver, Streetscene and Leisure Services Manager should be invited to attend the next meeting.

2.    A Member Learning Session on back office systems would be advantageous for all Councillors and should be arranged as soon as there was an available date in the calendar/Member training programme.

3.    The Working Group asked to see some sample correspondence which would be issued by the Contact Centre staff. These could be emailed out rather than being considered at the next meeting.