Agenda item

The Head of Customer Experience will give a presentation at the meeting regarding progress with delivering the Customer Service Strategy.

The Head of Customer Experience gave a presentation setting out progress with delivering the Customer Service Strategy (item 6 on the agenda supplement filed with these minutes).

The Deputy Lead Member for Customer Services and the Head of Customer Experience assisted with consideration of the item and provided the following responses to issues raised:

(i)            Customers were considered to include anyone who interacted with the Council but the focus was on residents and businesses.  Parish/town councils and local groups or associations were considered to be stakeholders.

(ii)          The potential isolation of rural customers had not been identified as an issue that needed addressing.  The Council made use of customer segmentation data and that was used to identify potential barriers to access when services were redesigned.

(iii)         The customer service access point provided by the Council in Syston was not heavily used and information regarding the service could be provided to councillors to assist with its promotion.

(iv)         Services were being optimised for online transactions but access was still being provided through telephone and face-to-face channels.

(v)          In response to individual experiences described by members of the Group, it was stated that if councillors’ concerns about customer service were raised with the Head of Service they could be addressed.

(vi)         Satisfaction levels of customers using the Customer Service Centre and the Contact Centre were measured through asking customers to complete a short survey, and were high when compared with other councils.  Information regarding the proportion of customers who completed the survey could be provided to members of the Group.

(vii)        For the Contact Centre, customer satisfaction was prioritised over waiting times but waiting times and dropout rates were monitored.

(viii)       The Head of Customer Experience did not take the lead on the Council’s Customer Service Excellence accreditation but expressed her view that it was a worthwhile exercise.  The reasons for this were that it recognised achievement, had a reputational benefit with customers and stakeholders and maintained a focus on customer service because the accreditation was reviewed annually and required continuous improvements to be made.  The Deputy Lead Member for Customer Services stated that it was an award that the Council wished to keep.

(ix)         Managers were responsible for delivering the actions in the Customer Service Strategy as well as others set out in the Corporate Plan and Team Plans.  Progress was monitored at one-to-one meetings with those managers.

The following comments were made by members of the Group:

(i)            The introduction of a webchat facility to assist customers using the Council’s website and systems enabling customers to track progress with issues that they had raised were to be welcomed.

(ii)          Some of the messages that were played while customers waited for their calls to the Contact Centre to be answered could be unnecessary or repetitive.

RESOLVED

1.         that the information be noted;

2.         that information regarding the customer service access point provided by the Council in Syston and the proportion of customers who completed satisfaction surveys after using the Customer Service Centre and the Contact Centre be provided to members of the Group.

Reasons

1.         To acknowledge the information received.

2.         To provide the Group with further information regarding the matter.