Think digital

Making our services available to customers online wherever possible is one of our Customer Commitments, recognised in our customer service strategy.

It can also significantly reduce the cost of our service delivery. As an example of this, the Society for Innovation, Technology and Modernisation identified the average cost per type of transaction for Local Government.

Average cost per transaction :

• Online: 15p
• Telephone: £2.83
• Face to face: £8.62

(SOCITM)

This is further supported by publications from the Government Digital Service (GDS) which highlighted similar costs for different contact methods to the DVLA when booking a driving test.

A high level exercise undertaken as part of the Customer Services Strategy Group work, along with other data sources, suggests the approximate number of customer contacts per annum as the following:

• Telephone calls: 600,000
• Emails: 400,000
• Office visits: 20,000
• Letters: 150,000

Statistics suggest we have around 360,000 visits to our website per annum. We have some insight which helps us understand user journeys. However, the current use of multiple online systems in a way that is not integrated makes it difficult to fully track the purpose or success of an individual customer's visit.

Further efficiencies can be found by reviewing the processes behind our service delivery, looking at how we can do them differently and automating them where possible.

Overall this strategy, implemented alongside the other elements of #OurFuture, will open up opportunities to make significant efficiencies.