Agenda item

To consider the attached report (C-20-2019/20).

The Cabinet noted and approved the direction and content of the Customer Strategy and its outputs.

The Customer Services Portfolio Holder introduced the report on the customer service strategy. The report detailed the proposed improvements to customer services for launch in early 2020. It was a two phased approach, firstly by embedding and adopting new approaches to customer services internally before rolling it out externally.

Councillor Philip noted that item 1 of the report gave a target of 45% for increasing first point resolution with customers. Was this just a first year target, as 45% seemed quite low. He was told that this was just a first year only target. Once the first phase had been achieved then they would be looking to achieve better than this.

Councillor Lion asked for more information on item 4, ‘new service/phone guide’. The Service Manager, Customer Services, said that one of the customers biggest frustration was that the first person they speak to can’t necessarily answer their query and they get passed from officer to officer. With so much change going on in the Council at present not everyone knew what other people did. So, as soon as roles were finalised they would be providing an up to date telephone and guide for each service area. Councillor Lion then asked if it would be made available to members, he was told that it would be.

Councillor H Whitbread asked about point 2 and the reference to “#customer shoes”. The Portfolio Holder said that it was about thinking from the customer perspective. The Service Manager added that it was more about how we made the customer feel. This was evolving and building all the time, responding to our customers, and once the staff have settled in their roles, we then want them to put themselves into the customer shoes.

Councillor J H Whitehouse asked about the external consultation groups and if older people were represented in them. She was told that the consultation carried out so far was with existing groups such as ‘active living’ for the older generation. They were also looking to reach out to our partnerships throughout the community. They have also done an initial customer survey on the website, had a few focus groups, and have just joined the Institute of Customer Service after Christmas we will reach out to our partners for more feedback.

Councillor Patel reminded the meeting that they were customers as well. He went on to praise new customer contact forms that he had recently used.

Councillor Bedford made a plea to add in lay residents’ services, such as the County Council, as it was not always EFDC that provided these services. And it was good to have staff trained in recognising where to transit people to if not within our council. The Portfolio Holder agreed it would good to do this, but they were not ready as yet, we had to get ourselves organised first before we went on to outside organisations. This was something for the future.

Councillor Wixley asked about item 10 and the use of Artificial Intelligence and how would that work. The Portfolio Holder said that they had nothing as yet, it was just an aspiration, but they were exploring to see how they could utilise new technology.

Decision:

The Cabinet noted and approved the direction and content of the Customer Strategy and its outputs.

Reasons for Proposed Decision:

Our strategy which supports our focus to put customers at the heart of everything we do will be aimed at external customers, Members and internal customers supporting collaborative working across the Council.

Based on customer research (*) we need to focus on ‘fixing the basics’ – simplifying processes to ensure customers find us easy to deal with, embracing a ‘customer shoes’ staff culture and using new technology to improve our service offer.

Other Options for Action:

If we do not embrace a ‘customer at the heart of everything we do’ culture, we risk the fact we may not be responding to the changing needs of our customers.

(*) Customer research is based on the following:

A customer satisfaction web survey conducted from August to September 2019 plus customer feedback from calls to the Customer Contact Centre.