Members were reminded that the Customer Services Transformation Detailed Business Case setting the Council’s approach to offer a modern, high quality and effective customer services was approved at the Strategy and Policy Board on the 20 November 2013.

The Business Case identified that the Council was offering very traditional and outdated methods for customers to access its services. The concept of the Customer Services Transformation was to move away from the traditional reception/telephone service offered by the Council to a new model that offered a wide range of modern and efficient access channels for customers.

In order to progress to the new model of customer services a Customer Access Strategy was required to set out the Council’s approach to how it would deliver services to customers in the future. The key aim of the strategy was to improve customer experience and satisfaction and drive down costs through economies of scale and joined up processes.

The Customer Access Strategy provided the overarching framework for the channels (or methods) the Council would  use to interact with customers to ensure the successful delivery of our services with the resources available.  The strategy set out the following strategic principles that would be focused upon as improvements were made to customers services:

·                     Be open to all

·                     Provide Choice

·                     Meet Needs

·                     Deliver First Time

·                     Provide Satisfaction

Members noted that key to the delivery of the Customer Access Strategy was the High Level Implementation Plan which contained a number of key actions. One of these was the development of a Channel Strategy which would  identify the channels the Council would use to deliver services to and interact with its customers. A Channel Strategy would set out how the Council would meet the contact demands of its customers using the resources it had available and bearing in mind the needs of the customer.

In addition, the High Level Implementation Plan had an action to undertake investigations into a suitable Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) to ensure that an appropriate system was selected to meet business needs. Future work would  also be required to provide end-to-end transactions that were fully integrated with the Council’s back office systems and processes through the use of technology.

The High Level Implementation Plan also included the development of a Customer Portal which would provide residents’ online access to manage their accounts/services with the Council.

The Draft Customer Access Strategy and High Level Implementation Plan were before Members.

Cllr Lloyd MOVED and Cllr Aspinell SECONDED  and following a discussion it was RESOLVED that the Committee approve the Customer Access Strategy and High Level Implementation Plan.