Customer Service Excellence

A 21st Century Services Project

Project Brief

To encourage every local authority to adopt high quality approaches to customer service excellence, across the full range of their activities
Underpin service transformation
Improve outcomes Change how services are delivered

Ensure customer centred services are:

Efficient Effective Excellent Equitable Empowering

Aims of the Project

Recognises that there are a number of developing approaches Not constrained to front end delivery operations such as Contact Centres Aims to:

Support local authorities to adopt consistent approach to customer service excellence Sharing approaches with partners Encourage overall improvement in public sector attitude to customers Identify and exploit regional and sub regional benchmarking opportunities Support pilot innovations in customer focussed design/ delivery Seek opportunities for inter-agency working Deliver strategic procurement framework to enable customer service excellence

Customer Focus in Context

Understood at some level by every service organisation

Personal pride in service well delivered Corporate system for managing service requests Customer service standards and awards

Build on existing good practice and knowledge to propose consistent, high standards of customer service excellence Existing examples

Multi channel contact: face to face, phone, paper mail, web, SMS, digital TV, video links Self service Increased access through wider channel choice (24-7 becoming a reality) Improving understanding of customer needs Corporate customer contact points and sophisticated ICT systems to support customer focussed functions

Customer First Network

Priorities:
Practical approaches to Customer Focus Customer Journeys Measuring and evidencing Customer Strategy Embedding customer awareness in service design and delivery The Business Customer Hard to Reach groups

Other concerns:
Recruitment and retention Induction training

National Context

National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy

Service Transformation Agreement

Customer orientation pan Government priority North Easts strategy has innovation and customer focus in the drive for service transformation as key outcome Agenda for step change in delivery method across public sector Change public services so they more often meet needs of people or businesses Better for customer, better for frontline staff, better for taxpayer

Customer Insight Forum Contact Council Standards and benchmarking:

Customer Service Excellence (formerly CharterMark) Institute of Customer Service ISO Contact Centre Association Local Government Benchmarking Group

Project Benefits

Intelligence Gathering
Customer service training Use of standards Approaches within LSPs Performance reporting Network events

Delivery (dependant on outcomes of intelligence gathering)

Procurement framework for specialist and generalist training Peer to Peer trainer pool and / or inclusion in NEEM2 Regional approach and LSP approach to customer service excellence

Outcomes

Cost to Serve and NI14: Reduction in contact of low or no value to customer LAA Targets: improving customer service across and through organisations MAA Targets: ensuring high standard customer service for authorities and partners RIEP: collaboration, encouraging innovation, support and challenge, engendering trust, catalyst for change, removing barriers, share best practice, tackle under performance

Links to Other Projects

21st Century Services Programme

Customer Channels Customer Insight Information Governance and Management

OD and Workforce Planning Programme

Business Process Improvement Project North East Excellent Managers 2 Project

Partnerships Programme