CHANNEL SHIFT PAPER

@.com
Serving the Citizen
Better Online
How ‘Channel Shift’ plays a role in enhancing
the efficiency and impact of public services
An Executive Briefing Paper to stimulate debate and feedback
An Oracle Public Sector Publication

Heads of Service in the public sector are under pressure to continue to improve service delivery at a time when they’re
under pressure to reduce expenditure. Today, more than ever, the opportunity exists to use technology, in effective and
innovative ways, alongside traditional touch-points, to create new possibilities for interaction with citizens. This paper
explores some of the opportunities and thinking involved in turning ideas into practical realities, especially considering
the diversity of scale within of the sector and the types of services it must deliver.
We start by defining what ‘Channel Shift’ means: marking a redefinition of how citizens relate to government and a
proliferation of new routes used to deliver services and information.
Public bodies are now expected to span online, social, mobile, telephone and fixed touch-points, but at the same time
ensure social inclusion – engaging with and encouraging the hardest to reach citizens – often, those most in need.
Citizens’ expectations of how they will be supported are also changing. For public bodies, these changes parallel some
of the experience already faced by retailers who have had to transform operational models beyond recognition; cope
with changing consumer behaviours; and find new ways to build personal customer relationships. Whilst the public sector
faces similar drivers of change, it must also factor in a hugely complex set of other needs. Collaboration, consolidation
and integration of systems and services could be used to drive out expensive gaps and costs, as well as enabling citizens
to self-serve and gain more choice. Staff could be more empowered and effective in performance and decision-making
with better access to better information. At the same time, management could benefit from improved real-time business
intelligence to support both decision-making and day-to-day service delivery. A changing demographic landscape brings
both opportunity and issue at the same time as organisations manage their own unique local challenges. Working in
Partnership, in order to deliver or extend services, is becoming the norm and creating new requirements for collaboration
and stakeholder communication.
Channel Shift involves a reorientation of thinking about how citizens are impacted – and how they experience and are
involved in service delivery. It is not about driving technical change for its own sake. We explore how Services teams
can find opportunities for Channel Shift initiatives and the importance of focusing on improving the citizen experience
as new service routes are opened. Driving any change in behaviour may be gradual and continuous, as citizens will
develop new habits and a new relationship evolves, making trust and engagement an important consideration. The
experience of many high street retailers, however, suggests that change may come faster than currently expected.
Getting the brief balanced is essential, and we outline common directions and technologies that are often employed in
Channel Shift initiatives. Selecting the right one is all about identifying whether the aim is better business; better service;
a better experience for the citizen; as well as considering how external and internal stakeholders must be supported.
A world of opportunity can open up: to deliver smarter websites; or truly personalised services; manage content or
information in new ways; to collaborate with partners or serve up information to employees via a portal or a mobile
platform which could transform their effectiveness.
Whatever the aim, there is a sense of inevitability that public sector bodies will rely more and more on such new channels in
years to come, especially as budgetary pressures endure. The paper concludes that the emphasis should be about doing
things better, and that technology must remain an enabler not a panacea. Attitudes and organisational cultures will form
more of a barrier, and the human side of creating social and behavioural change will take time and effort. The path that each
local authority or public service organisation takes will, to a greater or lesser extent, be unique and will often involve
incremental changes. Oracle has helped many other organisations navigate this path and brings a broad and deep
understanding of the challenge.
Serving the Citizen Better Online. Channel Shift in the Public Sector
2
Executive Summary

Item Topic Page No.
1. Introduction Page 4
2. What is ‘Channel Shift’? Page 5
3. Imperatives for Change Page 6
3.1 The Human Factor Page 8
3.2 Establish High-Level Aims Page 10
3.3 Select IT Responses Page 11
4. Conclusion Page 12
5. Oracle Solutions Page 14
3
Contents
Who is this paper for?
This paper aims to help Heads of Services and IT leaders within the public sector who are under pressure to cut budgets whilst
continuing to deliver improvements in service provision. It is a non-technical paper and will help readers immerse in the task and
the thinking, disentangle some of the top-line choices, and grasp some of the challenges that may be presented. It aims to help Heads
of Services and their IT leaders to communicate and discuss productive routes to goal, which they can then approach collaboratively
with their solution providers. Ultimately, it will stimulate thought around decision-making for improving communication,
collaboration and service provision for and with citizens.

4
1. Introduction
The concept of using IT and the Internet to build a closer
relationship between government and its citizens as well as other
audiences, such as its employees, agencies and other governments,
has been around for many years. From many different perspectives,
the concept of ‘e-government’ has become a reality. Somewhat
inevitably, given the nature of government, much of its realisation
has been policy-driven, centrally-initiated and controlled, and
involved large-scale change concepts and information projects.
For a service team leader who is tasked with creating practical
solutions to day-to-day service delivery challenges within an
incredibly tough economic environment, such lofty goals can
seem challenging. Heads of Service are in the front line of service
delivery. The challenge of creating deliverable, workable, practical
solutions to operational challenges at a local level can seem a
world away from the conceptual goals of e-government.
There are many priorities and therefore decisions must be made as
to where to focus. Establishing clear direction is vital, along with
ensuring good working alignment between the organisation’s
Service and IT leaders so that projects can succeed: getting
maximum value from new IT initiatives and realising further
value from existing investments.
Finding economic and innovative solutions to unique public
service challenges is increasingly oriented around finding new
routes to reach the recipients of services. Although not yet
universal, thinking ‘digital by default’ is happening more and
more. There is now deep conviction that technology can deliver
huge benefits such as enabling cost reductions and improved
access to services; the question is how to turn ideas into realities.
Self-service models are now well-established as goals – but real
success comes from execution which balances the unique needs
of each situation with an overall vision. For example: how to
balance extending access to social care entitlement information,
while easing the completion of personal care applications, plus
enhancing opportunities of direct engagement with social services
around existing personal care plans – all while ensuring universal
access including for the most challenging and hard-to-reach
residents of a borough or city?
Public sector leaders are now familiar with the concept of
‘Channel Shift’ – how to provide access to services in more
economical, effective or accessible locations - in order to
improve effectiveness as well as efficiency. Channel Shift goes
beyond creating new technical solutions; it drives and is driven
by changes in how people behave and access services.

5
The face-to-face and paper-centric relationships between citizens
and government, although they still exist, are starting to change.
There has already been a significant move from only offline,
real-world interaction to online communication and information
provision, with the elimination of paper or broadening of access
to consistent information. However, the potential exists to do
much more. Over time, Channel Shift will fundamentally redefine
and refresh the relationship and interaction that public service
institutions have with all their audiences as well as the access
and scope for control that those audiences have.
Realisation is clearly growing that delivery routes for citizen
services and information must necessarily change, using
technology to the maximum in order to deliver affordable,
effective services. Successful solutions will use diverse channels
that include online, social, mobile, telephone and fixed touch-
points. Channel Shift is, therefore, not just about technology –
first and foremost it is about people, their needs and how to meet
those needs. Channel shift can be seen as one of the new enablers
of social inclusion: helping those who may, traditionally, have been
hardest to reach, engage with and support – and yet have had
the greatest need. Some Channel Shift programmes will find
their initial focus first on small, specific, niche groups whose
needs were easily met through traditional routes. These initial
projects can help to make breakthroughs that will inform and
enhance future initiatives.
As with any social change, acceptance and uptake are critical
success factors. The shift to new channels has already happened
in other areas of daily life – particularly in the way we shop.
Developments in communications technology have brought
about radical changes to the face of the High Street over the
last few years. These developments and changes have stimulated
an expectation on the part of consumers and purchasers which
has driven leading retailers to respond. From operating in a
single ‘real world’ retail channel, most brands now exist within
a multi-channel environment as they strive to deliver wherever,
whenever and on whatever platforms their customers require.
Connectedness has created new social dynamics and group
behaviours which influence choice and enhance expectation, in
turn encouraging individuals and groups to demand more
personal and flexible service and communication. The effect of
much of the above has been to place more control and self-
determination in the hands of the individual. Commercial entities
have proactively pursued this for the sake of driving loyalty and
increasing sales, driving down cost of sales and building highly
personal customer relationships.
The impact of these changes in retail has been to challenge
traditional thinking and overturn many long-held assumptions
about customer behaviour and choice. The change will be no less
profound for public services. The appetite for change is just as
strong in public services, and budget cuts apply more pressure
for adoption.
Under pressure to continue to improve service delivery and focus
for citizens, while achieving tough operational and cost efficiency
goals, it is inevitable that more channel-shift projects will be
initiated. Understanding the drivers, imperatives and new
dynamics will influence technology choices.
2. What is ‘Channel Shift’?

6
3. Imperatives for Change
Citizen Expectation
Many citizens now expect to interact via online channels. Such
change would not have been possible without penetration of the
web and, later, of broadband – and has recently been accelerated
by the rapidly changing needs, expectations and habits of citizens
themselves. Many have been heavily influenced by their life as an
online consumer, empowered by social technologies, and have
seamlessly shifted their online activity from the PC in the corner
of the living room to a truly mobile, smart platform lifestyle.
Social Inclusion
Universal social inclusion is a core driver of the need to change
how services are delivered. Organisations and local authorities are
striving to reach audiences who have traditionally found it hard
to access services through traditional touch-points. These could
include attending council offices or a struggle with traditional
application processes. Despite the extraordinary penetration of
technology into most lives and environments, economic exclusion
means that usage of smart, online or social platforms can never be
assumed. Unemployment, homelessness, health, disability and
other factors can place limits on access and influence the ‘default’
setting by which citizens access their public services.
Collaboration,Consolidation and Integration
Consolidation and integration of systems and services – to
eliminate gaps, overlaps and unnecessary costs – are common
drivers for programmes which centre around the creation of new,
streamlined channels for information, processing, collaboration
and communication. For example: What can be done to reduce
the Landfill Tax bill for authorities? How do they create greater
engagement with residents to inform them of what can be done
and how to do it? How would such changes reduce the problems
of fly-tipping? The potential for web-based information that is
easier to access and improves processes for the public could
interact with the collaboration between agencies, creation of more
standardisation and shared administration – with a likelihood
of reduced numbers of calls for information or to report issues,
and easier administration of permits and other exception
applications. Such a scenario would be a prime candidate for good
lateral thinking about a new channel model to drive significant,
holistic benefits to many stakeholders.
Self-Service
Providing citizen self-service choices are an economic necessity
for public services and national government concerns alike –
whether this is to streamline NHS appointments or enable a
householder to order a new refuse bin. The core idea is to remove
a mass of low-value but high-cost behaviours from the mix
entirely – for example, general helpline queries and unnecessary
trips to a physical location for form filling, which could be
replaced with a single step online application process.
Alongside self-service sits personal empowerment for citizens
who increasingly want and expect the ability to manage or
access their own information, as well as taking more control
over the services they choose to receive. Such empowerment,
and the consequential benefits, will need intuitive solutions
that enable citizens to manage, for example, their own social
care budget and select the services most important to them.
Empowered Personnel
How can we empower public service personnel with better, faster
and more complete access to the information they need to do their
jobs and serve their communities? Integration, management and
accessibility of information is key. Access to the right information
in the right place at the right time transforms individual
effectiveness. For a call centre operator it could be via a CRM
solution that delivers consolidated and correct data they can use
to access all the correspondence and records needed to respond to
a call faster; or for a social worker in a citizen’s place of residence,
it could be providing a tablet-based solution to streamline real-
time reporting - eliminating the need to fill in paperwork there
and then duplicate the effort when they return to the office.
Much is talked of the growing expectation for changes to services by citizens themselves. Drivers of efficiency, effectiveness and
economics are obviously also paramount, as government agencies and public services from central to local are increasingly stretched
and, of late, increasingly limited on budget. When formulating new ideas and strategies, however, there are also many other factors
which need to be borne in mind including:

7
Early Intervention and Information Intelligence
There is increasing awareness of the value of business intelligence
to public bodies, enabling faster and smarter decision-making
and the integration of previously disparate information and data
to release its value. This recognition sits neatly alongside another
driver for the creation of new, smarter channels for aggregating
and delivering information – the ability to better match services to
citizen needs through information. A citizen seeking information
about residential care for an elderly relative may also need or
benefit from other information too. For example: home care
options; grants for mobility aids; personal alarm services that may
be available through a charity. Early intervention, by offering
services which are clearly needed, may cost a council outlay in
the short term. Gains however can be measured in both long
term cost savings and, most importantly, the social benefits from
providing timely help to those most in need.
Incremental Changes
Simply putting information at the fingertips of those who need
it at the right time could reduce the time and cost of answering
questions and resolving issues. The scale of public bodies means
that even the simplest of requests, often repeated, can result in
high costs of service provision. Consequently, savings can also
be significant – reducing many thousands of simple calls each
year to councils, each with an incremental time and support cost.
Smart analysis can often eliminate entire swathes of queries about
very basic information that might be easily provided in a standard
format via a web presence – right down to answering simple
questions such as the opening time of the local swimming pool.
Demographic Changes
Local authorities and health trusts operate in a world which
dictates that they must deliver more value and better quality
services with decreasing budgets and an often burgeoning need
for specialist services. One notable factor is the macro-level
demographic changes that operate at a local level. For example,
immigration patterns are impacting cultural diversity and
language support needs, creating new pressures on how healthcare
and health information services are delivered by local NHS Trusts,
and how residential and social services are delivered by councils,
cities and boroughs alike. Over 300 languages are spoken in
London1
, with English not the first language for over a million
residents, a challenge that every borough must manage. An
ageing population creates unprecedented demand for senior
health and welfare services, which is scaling fast for virtually
every public service organisation in some way, with the prospect
of the problem escalating for years to come. Even the geography
of a region has significant impact – rural versus urban territories
have very different citizen access issues to manage.
Partnership
There is an increasing trend towards partnership working in order
to deliver initiatives and, in response to budget restrictions, as a
way to maintain and extend many existing services. Many councils
have moved towards high-level commissioning of services via
major charities; volunteer groups are highly active and private
sector organisations are becoming involved too. Into the mix we
should therefore also consider how online channels could form a
bridge between formal agencies, citizens and other organisations.
There are many examples where complementary thinking is
helping to deliver important services: local authorities working
with elderly charities; council tax payments managed at local
Post Offices and local library co-operatives. Some voluntary
organisations deliver services that can no longer be funded by
local authorities but remain highly valued by vulnerable
residents, such as shopping or call-in services for the elderly.
They are not formal social care services, but finding out about
their existence and how to access them forms a key part of
keeping elderly residents informed about the help available.
That means considering how IT can also support stakeholder
communication, collaboration and even joint service delivery.
1. Regional Language Network, London
Perhaps the most obvious imperative of all is something which seems deceptively simple – For any project to succeed, the objectives
must be crystal clear, and be the right objectives. For teams looking to create such a complex outcome as a change in human behaviour
and habits, or organisations which deal with services that impact health and welfare, this is critically important. Despite using
technically-enabled change as both catalyst and medium, the first focus cannot be upon technical objectives; instead it must be upon
human ones. That means re-orienting thinking around the impact on people and how they will experience service, amongst other
things, before moving on to how and which technology direction could or should be pursued.

@ facebookemail
8
Find the Focus
I Keep the focus firmly on the right citizen needs and groups.
It can be tempting to look first at how to reach the largest and
widest groups by providing broad, pervasive IT choices. This
is one reason why the emphasis of some early programmes is
sometimes placed first on generic information services delivered
over a one-size-fits-all website. Lately we have observed many
Facebook initiatives which appear to have reach but are highly
unlikely to be focused on the audience with greatest need – or
associated cost.
I To identify opportunities to transform delivery in both
economic and effective ways, it is always important to look
towards peaks in service delivery costs, because of the sheer
breadth of citizens that most organisations must manage. The
80/20 rule will apply with the vast majority of cost being driven
by the smaller number of citizens in need – for councils, the
biggest impact on local resources may well come from the sick,
disabled, elderly and disadvantaged. Stakeholder analysis is a vital
step on the path to deliver a successful first project: to identify
a process which, on changing the delivery mechanism, delivers
cost savings and process improvements. Citizens themselves
should be included in the planning process where appropriate.
I Look for touch-points in the citizen engagement process
which could reveal valuable insight and drive other opportunities
to deliver a better, more complete service. Today, we don’t have
that completeness of picture, call or contact handling is expensive
and only answers part of a need. There may be potential not only
to streamline and speed a core process such as a housing benefit
application, but to recognise and act on the fact that the applicant
is likely also to be in or looking for rental accommodation, or their
children may be entitled to free school meals. This carries the
potential of amortising the cost of answering different needs
separately and could have a downward pressure on the cost of
each one.
I The human factor will continue to be hugely relevant
throughout the process through to and after implementation as
new channels and initiatives come online, through the essential
engagement and communication process. However, this later
stage is also vital to learn what works and how to fine tune new
delivery ideas, as citizens start to engage with the new user
experience that is being presented. It is vital to learn from every
reaction across every touch-point that goes to make up the new
citizen user experience and thus keep a continuous improvement
process underway to support quality of relationships.
3.1 The Human Factor

.com
APPS
9
AvoidAssumptions
Assuming access to online services remains highly risky. While
Ofcom figures indicate broadband penetration to the home has
reached around 74%2
, a recent report by the London School of
Economics indicated that a £1bn UK Government funding
shortfall may continue to restrict access for British citizens,
despite aims to reach 100% basic broadband penetration by
20153
. Add that to the inevitable accessibility issues which
may apply to the sick, homeless, disabled and elderly and it is
clear that care must be taken, and substantive investigation
and research may be warranted prior to planning a programme.
Tune theThinking
I Recognise that driving change in behaviour will inevitably
be a gradual and continuous process, and one which will require
an ongoing focus on engagement and communication with the
target user audience. The establishment of a new channel, service
platform or information service will almost never change
behaviour as a standalone step. It will be the attributes of the
service, how it is introduced and communicated to the audience,
and how they are aided and supported to try that service out
which make an initiative succeed or fail. There are two parts to
this process - firstly, to ‘nudge’ audiences to try it out for the
first time, and then to ensure that the experience they have is
positive and encourages them to do so again. What step changes
may be involved over time? What barriers could exist to uptake
and understanding amongst the focus audience?
I Accept that, in contrast to a traditional IT programme, the
objective will rarely be to entirely replace the use of one type
of service channel with another, but often instead to create an
optimal balance of uptake of services via several. Plotting out
the landscape of what might be either an interim or long term
configuration of different touch-points will be a vital part of
the brief to any IT service provider. The nature of public services
tend towards citizens requiring information and services through
multiple touch-points on an ongoing basis. For example: general
social care policy or information about application processes may
well be accessed online, while the application process itself may
require both online and call centre support, and thereafter
access to the service may be in the home. Alternatively, some
demographic groups may lean towards certain behaviours –
the elderly population, for example, retains huge faith in the
face-to-face channel and may wish to retain a higher proportion
of direct services than younger groups. Accessibility presents a
third example, such as lower income or differently able groups
who simply may not have the choice of using certain technologies.
I Human nature is to tend towards things which they find
easiest and most convenient – this alone may mean that several
options may be warranted for a particular service to ensure broad
access. In today’s technically enabled world, the expectation of
choice and flexibility is becoming endemic; the concept of
citizen choice and self-determination is also increasingly evident
within the public service policies that span the political spectrum.
I Building trust and engagement will be about more than
communicating the availability of a new service option.
Information integration and completeness will be very important,
in particular for self-service applications: if a citizen wishes to
find out what they owe the council, for example, but log in and
find only their council tax balance, they may well mistrust the
whole service if they know they also have a parking fine and a
bill for a new recycling bin currently outstanding.
2. Ofcom, Q1 2011
3. London School of Economics and Political Science

10
Better Service
A complete and clear list of points that would enable, speed,
unblock, or make more accessible the service in question will
be a significant task. Brainstorming this without restriction
with a group of individuals directly involved in service can
give rise to valuable insight and intelligence. It can be directly
applied into future systems thinking alongside the practicalities
of what can effectively be made an increasingly ‘self-service’
model. Gaining wide involvement from the very people that
the systems will touch can generate much better subsequent
uptake and utilisation of new systems too.
Better ‘Business’
Always an integral aim within the current climate but requiring
clear articulation as to what this means in practice. Considerations
for public services can include not only opportunity for cost
reduction but also revenue management, especially in the case
of local authorities with collection duties, but also for any
organisation offering elective paid services for their community.
Better Experience
Are there groups within the target community who are currently
under-served or encounter particular barriers which a new solution
could lower or eliminate? Could creating a more personalised
experience help individuals to find what they need, or are fully
personalised and individual application solutions warranted to
improve actual service delivery planning, management and
processing? Driving a better user experience for all stakeholders
should be a feature of most programmes – whether through
accessibility initiatives for disabled citizens, driving smarter
web use, or supporting employees and partners better.
Better Information Distribution
Could consistency or access to certain information to certain
audiences (internal or external) drive direct benefits? Is
information duplicated or available in multiple places creating
constant currency and accuracy issues – and extra clarification
phone calls? Is there information that could be valuable to the
public or to the internal team if it were only more accessible,
findable and shareable?
Better External Relationships
Public services institutions are surrounded by stakeholder
groups – including, but not limited to, citizens. Increasingly
they must liaise with, and co-deliver with, third party bodies
and charitable institutions to sustain anything from public
facilities such as libraries and leisure centres, to maintain
linkage between social services, elderly healthcare and ‘meals
on wheels’ volunteer organisations. Could better information
sharing, collaboration tools, mobile ideas help make such
partnerships even more effective?
BetterTeamwork
The internal audience within public service teams are just as key
to driving improvement through better internal and external
collaboration, better communication with citizens, streamlining
of tasks and improving both time management and time spend.
Consider what blocks, duplications, issues and legacy process
irritations could or should be swept away if new tools and
platforms might be employed.
Ensuring a balanced brief which retains all the business as well as technical purpose it needs will be essential. There are a core set of
directions and technologies which are highly likely to underpin most programmes that aim to create new platforms, channels or
engagement strategies. Oracle believes that early consideration of these can significantly clarify articulation of the second part of the
strategy, which is how to actually select and configure the IT that will pursue and deliver the service objectives that have been
outlined, and (perhaps even more critically) ensure close integration with existing infrastructure, policy and information strategies.
Getting the high-level business and service objectives in place can help teams to identify optimal directions. For example a head of
services may in effect be seeking a complex combination of aims, including:
3.2 Establish High-Level Aims

11
Simply SmarterWebsites
Utilising the latest web technology to introduce a feeling of
a more personalised, socially inclusive, experience and
contextualised information based on web search paths and the
path a user takes through a site, perhaps enhancing social tools
or consolidating web platforms to create a more connected,
accessible single ‘brand’ interface for the organisation.
Truly Personalised Services
Enabling faster, more economical and guided direct citizen access
to services, the ability to find and question and query based on
underlying policy rules, requiring new software applications.
Real energy and creativity often features here – attention might
be focused on enabling core processes, requiring close integration
with existing back-end systems - or more creative concepts which
rely only on smart web technology links, such as delivering
mash-ups of information from different sources to deliver an
end result. Or, a combination of the two: perhaps a householder
application for a council service could be enabled, where their
personal information is held in a District Council CRM
(Customer Relationship Management) application but also
linked to Google Maps to enable the location portion of the story.
Better Managed Content
Enhancing organisation-wide content management to integrate
disparate and duplicate legacy data sources, bringing together
‘online’ and offline information for better intelligence and
decision-making, and making usable a growing list of ‘new’
unstructured information input such as social data, images and
much more and managing that information better day to day,
such as managing Facebook pages in a dynamic but controlled
way rather than ad hoc.
Portals
Portals which work to bring the right information to the right
employee user at the right time enabling them to do their job
easier, faster and better; there are many opportunities also to
enhance and empower roles by giving more control to users to
personalise their own access and focus in on the information and
tools that are most useful to them day to day.
CollaborationTools
Tools which enable secure information sharing, define and help
manage shared service delivery between agencies, understand
touch-points, manage reporting and feedback as well as
SLA reporting.
MobileApplications and Ideas
These could be citizen-focused, aim to empower and unblock
service personnel, and which could span both mobile hardware
(smartphone and tablet) and software (mobile apps and platforms)
concepts. For example, there are innovative applications emerging
to enable citizens in some boroughs to snap pictures of fly-tipped
rubbish, use social media to connect to the local Council to alert
them in real time, which then links in with the formal reporting
and waste-management action team. Such ideas could focus on
leveraging some of the latest ideas in disability access over
mobile applications, using voice control; or on something as
simple as streamlining the renewal of library books and searching
the catalogue, as Westminster Council has done with its ‘WPL
In Touch’ iPhone app.
Thinking around such high level aims will enable your service provider to work effectively with your IT professionals and project teams
to identify the responses that determine IT solution needs. These may as often be enhancements to current back-end infrastructure as
whole-scale new system introduction, and may include but are not limited to:
3.3 Select IT Responses

@.com
facebook
APPSemail
4. Conclusion
There is a sense of inevitability that public sector bodies will rely
on technically-enabled new channels and solutions in years to
come. Budgetary pressures are likely to remain a constant thorn
too, and while we encourage thinking ‘digital by default’ there
is some danger in also thinking ‘cheapest by default’. Simply
chasing savings is not the secret to an effective Channel Shift
strategy. This is about doing important things better, in new ways
and with fresh ideas - not about instituting a technical revolution.
Technology remains an enabler, not a solution or a panacea, and
the barriers to effective evolution from offline to online citizen
engagement may still be more cultural and organisational than
technical. The value of getting the early thinking right cannot
be over-emphasised. It starts with people, rather than with the
technology. The changes which must be driven are not technical,
but behavioural and attitudinal. Creating social and behavioural
change takes time and effort – and in addition to influencing
and engaging better with citizens, such change must also be
enabled by internal audiences and employees, who will need
support and training.
The challenge facing public services may be superficially similar
to that faced by the commercial sector but is fundamentally
different. It is not about creating ‘buying’ behaviours to force
citizens to accept information and service in new ways, nor
about creating loyalty to new and less expensive channels or
service touch-points, nor about focusing on areas of greatest
opportunity for change. It is about changing the landscape of
how public services are delivered. The goal is all about targeting
service improvements to those with the most intense needs, in
order to make the most significant positive impact possible
on service quality, while realising necessary operational and
cost efficiencies.
The route that each local authority and public service organisation
takes will necessarily be entirely unique. That can seem
overwhelming, especially when in practical terms, the days are
gone when local government could maintain its IT with the
aid of a cadre of back-room IT staff. In future it needs to tap
much more into the innovation curve of the private sector. It
needs to be deploying solutions which are leading edge, not
those which commercial entities deployed years back. In order
to create optimal, economic and effective solutions, it will be
incumbent upon organisations to make smart choices – not only
looking at the new, but also solutions which integrate into
existing architectures and add flexibility and future potential,
not create further IT silos. Huge change can often be created
through smart additions to what is already there in terms of
back-end systems; adding to what you have by working in
partnership with an existing enterprise systems vendor could be
highly effective not only to generate new and clever solutions but
link appropriately to underlying policies, business processes and
data that already exist must be leveraged by any new application,
information management or user experience layer – without
introducing future issues.
At Oracle we have not only the broad and deep understanding of
the legacy infrastructure challenges facing many public sector
organisations, but huge experience of working with such
organisations to create innovative and optimal solutions to
Channel Shift challenges, all around the world. Let us share
that vast experience with you.
12

13
Notes

14
5. Oracle Solutions
WebCenter
Oracle WebCenter is the user engagement platform for social
business, delivering connectivity between people and information.
WebCenter Suite enables enterprises to improve customer
loyalty with targeted websites, while enhancing productivity
with contextual collaboration. It increases business agility
with intuitive portals, composite applications, and mash-ups,
and offers seamless access to the right information in context.
E-Business Suite
Oracle E-Business Suite is the most comprehensive suite of
integrated, global business applications that provides: the most
complete, integrated business intelligence portfolio; the most
adaptable global business platform; and the most customer-
focused applications strategy.
Enterprise Content Management
Oracle ECM consolidates unstructured content across diverse
systems to be centrally managed, and then exposes it from within
desktop applications, websites and business applications to fit
the working realities of today’s users.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Oracle Business Process Management Suite is the industry’s most
complete and unified BPM solution. These unified products
span modeling tools for business analysts, developer tools for
system integration, business activity monitoring for dashboards,
and user interaction for process participants. It delivers immediate
and impactful ROI, driving customer service and operational
excellence, and providing business value to SOA.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
The world’s most complete customer relationship management
(CRM). Oracle offers the broadest and deepest portfolio of CRM
solutions that address all customer touch-points and provide
rich functionality to support the specific business needs for
organisations to deliver a superior customer experience.
Service OrientedArchitecture
Rapid adoption of SOA is resulting in extensive service enabling
of IT systems. However, this is only half the story – the only
way to achieve IT goals of lower costs, greater efficiency, and
increased visibility is through rapidly assembling these services
into modular and flexible business applications. Oracle SOA
Suite makes it easier than ever to build, deploy, and manage SOA
with complete, open, integrated, and best-in-class technology.
Oracle PolicyAutomation
Oracle Policy Automation brings together people from IT,
policy owners and end users by providing out-of-the-box tools
for designing, testing, and deploying executable policies. By
providing visibility into complex system logic using natural
language, Oracle Policy Automation empowers subject matter
experts to make policy changes as required, increasing
organisational agility and reducing IT project costs.
Real User Experience Insight
Oracle Real User Experience Insight enables enterprises to
maximise the value of their business-critical applications by
delivering insight into real end-user experiences. It can help
identify lost revenue from frustrated users, reduce support
costs by lowering call centre volumes, accelerate problem
resolution of poorly performing applications, and help
organisations adapt to changing needs by providing insight
into business trends and user preferences.

15
Contact
Telephone
UK Enquiries: 08705 332 200
Email
UK Sales: uksales_ie@oracle.com
Online
UK Website: www.oracle.com/uk

Copyright © 2012, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Published September 2012.
Oracle Corporation UK Ltd.
Oracle Parkway, Thames Valley Park (TVP), Reading, Berkshire RG6 1RA.
UK Enquiries: 08705 332 200
Disclaimer:
This publication has been prepared for general guidance only. While every
care has been taken in the preparation of this publication, it may contain
errors for which the publisher and author cannot be held responsible. No
responsibility can be accepted by the author or publishers for loss
occasioned to any person or organisation acting or refraining from action as
a result of any material in this publication.
This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written
permission from Oracle.

CHANNEL SHIFT PAPER

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (8)

Similar to CHANNEL SHIFT PAPER

Similar to CHANNEL SHIFT PAPER (20)

CHANNEL SHIFT PAPER