Channel Shift The Poole Experience Public Sector Forums 7 th
February 2012 Chris Angell Service Improvement Manager
Slide 2
Aim Share Pooles 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
Slide 3
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
Slide 4
A number of years on 1998 2005
Slide 5
New Website 2010
Slide 6
Web Usage 2000 58,000 unique hits 2008 on track for
1,000,000+
Slide 7
Web Usage 2008 to 2010 Unique Visitors = approx 1m pa.
Slide 8
Web Usage 2008 to 2010 Total Hits - Reducing
Slide 9
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
Slide 10
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
Slide 11
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
Slide 12
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
Slide 13
Top areas are Report It and Pay
Slide 14
Previously these were A-Z Lists not easy to find More options
below
Slide 15
Logic in E-forms is important, as is integration to CRM with
high volume forms
Slide 16
Yet to be updated Scope for major work
Slide 17
A recent success is Green Waste. 40% plus online
applications
Slide 18
Our on line booking is an area that we still need to
develop
Slide 19
Gradually replacing documents with online e-forms
Slide 20
Next Steps Continue to promote new facilities internally to
officers and members Limited external promotion mainly via email
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)
Slide 21
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
