A seminar/workshop on 26 November 2010, provided by the Yorkshire & Humber Transformation Support Framework (TSF) in conjunction with the same region’s Socitm, for local authorities in the region looked at “Self-service: unlocking the potential in Yorkshire & Humber”.
One of the presenters was Simon Pollock, Head of Customer Services at Surrey County Council, who provided a very humorous and challenging look at how Surrey made a difference by managing to channel shift some of their citizens reducing the number of calls to the contact centre by increasing the use of the Internet channel. One of the many things he gave us to think about was how to develop a channel strategy, providing Surrey’s as a good start!
Some things a number of the presenters agreed upon were that:
- more than 50% of the users of local government websites were after information (not transactions)
- the Internet is not always the ideal channel for all services or transactions
- one person in control of customer contact
- use the public website in the contact centre
- market it (the website)
and of course the need to measure usage and employ feedback from all the channels involved!
Now, how long have I been saying these things…
Posted by greatemancipator 
The Great E-mancipator 