1. How is the ESD Toolkit helping us? David Lindill Customer Service Improvement Officer, East Herts Council October 2010

2. East Hertfordshire 14 miles north of London 184 sq miles, rural, 5 market towns Population 131,000, only 2.8% minority groups Low levels of deprivation, 346 out of 354, some pockets of relative deprivation. 1% unemployment local economy mainly service Conservative cabinet system Judged 'good' in 2004 CPA 350 employees.

3. Our Strategies Overall aim: ‘To improve the quality of people's lives and preserve all that is best in East Herts’ Promoting prosperity and wellbeing Providing access and opportunities Fit for purpose, services fit for you Pride in East Herts Caring for what's built and where Shaping now, shaping the future Leading the way, working together.

4. Back in 2008 Started our CSi programme Began in Parking Services Pilot for ESD Cost Architecture Identified Cost to Serve for the 1 st time in a service –Parking Phone calls = £4.62 –Parking Face2Face = £12.69 –Parking Post = £12.16 –Web = £0.17p

5. The CSi/BPI Process As Is Review –Volume –Process Maps –Identify VA / NVA / SNVA steps –Cost to serve To Be Recommendations –Revised Process Maps –Improvement Options Implementation Plan –Implement agreed changes

6. Improvement Options 34 recommendations made 5 implemented within 6 months 18 will come into effect in 2012 New ways of working developed Self Serve introduced for the first time

7. What is self serve? ‘A range of software that specialises in the way information, process rules and logic are collected, framed within an organised taxonomy, and accessed through decision support interviews. Self-service software allows people to secure answers to their inquiries and/or needs through an automated interview fashion instead of traditional service approaches.’ Wikipedia

8. Self Serve in the 21 st Century The public have already accepted self serve as the normal way of conducting business in many ways already, for example: –Phone/Internet Banking –At the petrol station –At the supermarket So why not when dealing with the Council?

9. Toe in the water…. Launched a hosted self serve telephone system for Parking in April 2009. The first council to offer a fully interactive challenge a PCN by phone service. 70.6% ( to date 16,657 calls and 1,155 hours ) of all calls now resolved in self serve

10. Parking in 2010 Increase in workload – PCN Challenges up by 20% Cost of phone calls down from £4.62 to £0.78p when resolved through self serve channel. £70K of savings identified within next two years – already released over 1FTE

11. Moving On CSi carried out in Housing Options and Council Tax during 2009 BPI Team now in place DC, BC, Environmental Health, Legal & Democratic and Land Charges being reviewed during 2010 Plans to cover the other services during 2011.

12. Going in further Launched self serve on the web for Housing Options in March 2010. Reduced the amount of errors in Housing Applications by introducing a post office style checking service. Identified £38K of savings in Housing Options already, with more to follow.

13. The Future Self serve is now accepted as a effective and efficient way to serve some (but not all) of our customers. Self serve tools being explored in Revs & Bens, Building Control and beyond! BPI team now working through the council over the next 12 months Targeted to identify £1.5M in savings by June 2011 We’re not there yet, but we are on the right course!

14. Tools of the trade ESD Toolkit –Cost Calculator –Forums –Sharing best practice GovMetric –Customer Feedback –Avoidable Contact People –Using the assets you already have

15. Customer Profiling Mosaic – as provided by Experian, and available through ESD Valuable insight as to the preferred methods of contact and services likely to be used by residents at a postcode level Used to assess likelihood of Council Tax customers to transfer from traditional payment methods to direct debit. Also used to target and promote specific events and shows at our Hertford Theatre based on likes of known customers (based on their postcodes).

16. Want more information? ESD Cost Calculator Peter Wrigley peter.wrigley@esd.org.uk Mobile: 07920 596969 www.esd.org.uk/costarchitecture esd-toolkit Customer Profiling Sheila Apicella sheila.apicella@esd.org.uk Mobile 07769692989 www.esd.org.uk/customerinsight

17. Thank you for your time and attention today. Further contact details: David Lindill East Herts Council Customer Service Transformation Officer and Business Process Improvement Officer Telephone: 01992531619 E-Mail: david.lindill@eastherts.gov.uk