The document discusses Birmingham City Council's Customer First programme, which aims to transform customer service delivery through increased digital access and self-service options. Key points include: - The programme seeks to resolve more inquiries at first contact and provide consistent, improved customer handling across channels. - Customers can now access 70,000+ services and create 7,000+ accounts online to manage requests, payments and personal information. - The new website and online forms allow easy access to services and integrate with back-end systems to track requests. - Registered customers can access a secure online portal to view transactions and update details. - The 10-year programme is projected to cost £175.1

1. Smart Delivery Dawn Flook – Customer First Programme Delivery Manager 21 st October 2010

2. Agenda What is Customer First? How are customers using self-service? Cost and Benefits Benefits already being realised

3. What is Customer First? Birmingham City Council’s Customer Service transformation programme Citywide Customer Service operating model A number of services are now simple and convenient to access across a choice of methods. More transactions resolved at the first point of contact End-to-end tracking of service requests Consistent and improved standards of customer handling Proactive, knowledgeable customer focused staff Use of customer data (knowledge) Increasing awareness of the City Council’s services and increasing customer and staff satisfaction. Go

4. How are Customers using Self-Service? Open a personal account on-line – request services, track progress, manage personal information Request – bulky waste collection, sports and leisure activities, graffiti removal, rubbish bags and recycling containers, rubbish collection dates Reschedule – council house repair visits, bulky waste collections Report – a missed waste or recycling collection, change in circumstance, problems with a council service, antisocial behaviour, abandoned empty properties Pay – your council tax bill, a parking ticket, council rent, commercial waste, Apply - for and track planning permission Find – information about council services, the location of local facilities Share – your comments, compliments or complaints about our services Accessible on-line and through self-service kiosks within Customer Service Centres (F2F) So far, over 70,000 service requests have been raised and over 7,000 customer accounts opened

5. A new homepage was launched, developed with the involvement of local residents Key New Homepage Features New website registration for access to Single Customer Account Modern, clean style Quick 1-click access to most common online services to drive channel shift Interactive footer with access to search and common services on all pages Quick access to multi-lingual sign-posting pages New layout for news, events, campaigns and space for commercial advertising

6. Council services are a click away, plain English content and easy to use online forms Service Pages: All you need to know about a service and how to do it online Quick Links to Service Pages Search Engine to Find Service Pages

7. Online forms are integrated cross channels with CRM and back-office systems New Online Forms Key Features Quick access to online forms direct from the home page and service pages Clear, modern design in plain English Tested with customers and disabled users Quick and convenient to complete forms – optimised for registered customers with pre-populated data Ability to track transactions online plus automatic status alerts by email / text message

8. Customers can register and login to their secure account to manage services requested Customer Login: Giving customers access to their secure account to transact with the Council

9. My homepage navigation to keep your personal details up to date and view your transactions 1 click access to transactions, bookings, saved forms and statements Quick 1-click access to most common services to drive channel shift, pre-populating forms with customer details Upgrade your account (by verifying your identity) to access more secure services, e.g. Council Tax Statements and Benefits Logged in customers will access their secure account via their personal homepage Customer Home Page: Secure, personalised page for every customer

10. My homepage navigation to keep your personal details up to date and view your requests transactions and bookings. Customers can view their transactions whether submitted online, by phone or F2F Customer Portal: Viewing your transaction history across channels 1 click to view full details of the transaction Easy to view status and due dates for each transaction

11. Costs – projected at £ 175.1m over the 10 year term of the programme Benefits – projected at £ 321m of which £197.4m is cashable Benefits type - Channel shift - customers use more convenient ways of contacting the Council which are also lower cost for the Council to provide Volume reduction - contacts from customers can be decreased by removing the reason for the contact in the first place, which generally means “getting it right first time” and proactively keeping customers informed Improved productivity - Increased efficiency can be achieved by improving the work environment and supporting tools Efficiencies for case/job delivery - getting the initial contact with the customer right can enable increased efficiencies in the subsequent case/job delivery The principal benefit will be improved customer satisfaction, rising from the current level of 59% to 85% overall Customer First Cost and Benefit Case

12. Benefits already being realised Self-Service Over 70,000 transactions via the web, previously would have been by phone/F2F (increase from 800 to 3000 per wk) 7,000 customer accounts opened – ability to track service requests Improved MI and reporting – greater visibility and accountability (closed loop for service delivery) Other channels 55% of housing e-benefit claims done over the phone (previously F2F) 51% of calls to neighbourhood offices resolved there and then (no need for a F2F appointment) Contact Centre – 80-90% satisfaction so far!

13. Dawn Flook Programme Delivery Manager – Customer First [email_address] 0121 303 7331