Channel Shift The Poole Experience Public Sector Forums 7 th February 2012 Chris Angell Service Improvement Manager

Aim Share Poole’s approach to driving channel shift via the web Discuss key topics such as:  Use of Telephony & CRM data  Communicating To Reduce / Redirect Contacts  Improving Web Content  ‘Quick Wins’ to Drive Immediate Channel Shift  Web / Self Service Promotion  Establishing ‘Cost to Serve’  Developing a Business Case  Channel Shift Targets

Key Poole Statistics Unitary Council on the Dorset coast Part of a defined conurbation, inc. Bournemouth & Christchurch Around 138,000 customers & 64,000 households in 65 square km 40% of population over 50 (national average 33.4%) & growing fast Predominately white British population – 4% other ethnic groups, although seen recent influx of Eastern European workers Generally successful & well-rated Council for many years (4 Star in 2007) 71% of our population already use the internet – and still increasing

A number of years on…

New Website 2010

Web Usage 2000 – 58,000 unique hits 2008 – on track for 1,000,000+

Web Usage 2008 to 2010 Unique Visitors = approx 1m pa.

Web Usage 2008 to 2010 Total Hits - Reducing

Role of Our Website FOR CUSTOMERS:  Accurate & readily accessible info for residents, local businesses / partners & tourists  Portal to other local services of interest – eg. tourism, medical, jobs, etc?  Convenient & easy to use transactional self service facilities, available 24/7 FOR US:  Ready access to key service information for officers to effectively support customers  Cost-effective self service channel integrated with other access channels  Support for the general promotion & development of Poole town / area Typical costs / transaction (LGN 2011) F2F £14.00, Phone £5.00, Web £0.17

Our Web Vision Seek to package and present Council service information / content intuitively In ways that help to solve users’ problems &/or better support their lifestyles Be attractive & easy to use for the vast majority of users, regardless of age or disability Encourage and deliver significantly enhanced self-service activity Substitute use of other (more costly & less flexible) delivery channels Integrate effectively with our other access channels & selected partner websites Strive for national excellence in design, functionality & content Ensure our Web / online presence supports our Customer Service Strategy

Quick Wins Set challenge to improve our offer in two months – and spent just £3k Reviewed telephony & CRM data to identify best candidates for channel shift 14 titles changed & 47 ‘Also Known As’ titles created 94 bespoke forms created (previously one generic). 72 new titles created. ‘Bin Swaps’ alone will save at least 500 calls p.a. Changed from long A-Z lists to clustered services to ease navigation / selection All core service pages now have updated & more prominent self service links too Pages meta-tagged so can be found direct from Google Validation / multi section e-forms added to reduce spam from ‘spiders’

Telephone vs Web TELEPHONE:  Reduced Telephone contact by 25% since 2007/8 (100k contacts )  Removed avoidable contact by accurate signposting WEB:  Increased E-form usage since 2007/8 up by 82% (60k plus)  Improved e-forms with embedded logic has reduced avoidable contact

Top areas are “Report It” and “Pay”

Previously these were A-Z Lists – not easy to find More options below

Logic in E-forms is important, as is integration to CRM with high volume forms

Yet to be updated Scope for major work

A recent success is Green Waste. 40% plus online applications

Our on line booking is an area that we still need to develop

Gradually replacing documents with online e-forms

Next Steps  Continue to promote new facilities internally to officers and members  Limited external promotion – mainly via marketing, libraries & adult learning  Customer focus groups to review new facilities & identify further improvements  Agree ‘cost to serve’ formulae – for fully & partially automated web transactions  Continue to prioritise development  Extend CRM ‘Self Service’ integration to enable customers to create cases  Develop more ‘Pay for It’ & ‘Book It’ facilities (eg. weddings, beach huts, pest control, etc)

Summary  Channel shift is achievable – and quickly too. 10% less calls in 2011/12  Review your CRM & telephony data to quickly identify key opportunities  Improved communication can reduce overall contact volumes immediately  Focus on accurate & well structured web content – and use Plain English!  Identify & address ‘quick wins’ for immediate benefit whilst you develop more functions  Promote website / online facilities actively – in publications, through staff, campaigns etc  Understand your ‘cost to serve’ dynamics  Use these to build a business case for further investment & development  Set clear channel shift targets for your front-line staff & involve them in design work

Thank you