Delivering the 'Channel of Choice' - the vision for online customer services for Kettering Borough Council
Kettering Borough Council has been very proactive in the modernisation of its customer facing services and the deployment of integrated online service delivery to achieve this. The council's vision for customer service is that all customer enquiries are resolved at the first point of contact.
All of our customers will be able to gain access to a wide range of information
and services easily in ways and at times that suit them...
The IT strategy that has been developed to deliver this vision has utilised a range of integrated web and back office systems including - web content management, e-payments, online job application processing and online forms integrated with the Council's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. These initiatives are delivering quantifiable improvements in efficiency and savings for example:
- Online payments have more than doubled in volume between 2008 and 2010 and generated an estimated £109,344 of savings
- Online balance enquiries have growth with 9965 online enquiries made in 2010 equivalent to a savings over telephone usage of £28,896
- Online job applications accounted for 71% of the 1330 job applications received during nine months in 2010 generating a saving of £3K
- Electronic form submission has increased by 230% between 2008 and 2010
The current number of unique visitors to www.kettering.gov.uk is approaching 32,000 per month. As the online channel becomes the 'channel of choice' and customer engagement continues to increase, savings will continue to rise on a daily basis as illustrated in the following examples.
Generating savings through e-payment services
Kettering's e-payment system now supports the majority of the Council's services (Table 1) with Council Tax (64%) and Rents (24%) being the most popular online payment services. The ability to pay Parking Fines is the most recent e-payment to be introduced in April 2011.
| Services with online payment | |
| Resident Parking renewal | Fixed Penalty Notices |
| Bulk Collections | Invoices |
| Business Rates | Mortgages |
| Council Tax | Overpayments |
| Planning Pre-application advice | Parking Fines |
| Rents | Season Ticket renewal |
| Local Authority Search | Assisted Search (Local Land Charges) |
By providing the e-payment revenue facility for customers, Kettering Borough Council has generated an estimated £109,344 over the three year period from 2008 - 2010. (Table 2). In addition over this time period, the Council has almost doubled the number of e-payments received and increased savings per annum by 166%.
The increase in the numbers of customers using the online payment facility is fantastic and we predict it will continue to rise. This allows our staff to deal with more complex and time consuming enquiries rather than processing payments.
Ian Strachan - Head of Customer Services and IT
In addition to the savings made through the provision of e-payment services, the Council has also generated savings through the ability to respond to balance enquiries online. During 2010, 9965 balance enquiries were made online. The ability to deal with these by using the e-payment facilities as opposed to a telephone call has provided an additional saving of £28,896 during 2010.
| Time Period | No. of orders | Total Revenue Generated | Orders per month | Revenue per month | Total* savings per month | Total** savings per annum |
| 01/01/2008 -31/12/2008 |
9531 | £1,002,532 | 794 | £83,544 | £2,303 | £27,636 |
| 01/01/2009 -31/12/2009 |
12,321 | £1,284,844
|
1027 | £107,070 | £2,978 |
£35,736 |
| 01/01/2010 -31/12/2010 |
15,857 |
£1,685,317 | 1321 |
£140,443 |
£3,831 | £45,972
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Total for 3 years | £109,344 |
* Calculation of savings made using most recently published SOCITM data for channel shift - quotes an average cost of £2.90 per telephone call; £7.40 per visits and £0.32 per web visitor.
** Total savings have been extrapolated to provide an estimate of annual savings.
Online Job applications improve process efficiency
Kettering Borough Council has developed an online job application facility for Council recruitment using Jadu HR Live, an enterprise recruitment module that is fully integrated with the Jadu web content management system. This development provides a full range of facilities that improve the process efficiency of the job application process for the applicant and Council. By increasing visibility of the jobs available it also ensures that the most suitably qualified applicants are attracted.
Savings are being generated from a number of areas including:
- Time saved - as applicant enters data into the online form rather than Council staff (estimate 4 minutes per form)
- Reduction in postage and stationary costs
- Staff administration time
HR Live has given fantastic results with a trend set to continue. Customers are able to save their details and can use them to apply for multiple jobs without the need to enter details repeatedly. HR Live is also able to supply all the reporting data required such as male and female applicants, age, ability and ethnic breakdown of applicants.
Sarah Goodman, Internet Business Manager
The online job application service was launched in early 2006. For the ten month period from March 2010 to December 2010, 29 jobs were advertised ranging from operational jobs such as drivers and electricians, to management roles in the areas of customer service, operational management and team leaders. Of the 1330 applications received for these jobs, 71% of these were responded to online (944) and 29% off line (386) via post or telephone. This change in channel usage produced an estimated saving of over 3K over the nine month period.
Self Service is becoming 'channel of choice'
All council services can be accessed via a dedicated self-service area, which is part of the customer service centre. The self service area provides access to services such as the planning portal, the housing exchange register, payments for services and job applications. Once customers feel confident with assisted online access they can progress to home and office access. Customers are able to access services on a 24X7 basis as all customer facing self service facilities such as online forms are integrated with back office systems such as CRM. A key aspect of self service is the ability for customers to submit information via electronic forms. Kettering Borough Council uses Jadu XForms Professional to enable customers to submit information with the most frequently submitted forms being requests for new, replacement or damaged recycling containers' commenting on a planning application and council tax. Take-up of this service has grown by 230% between 2008 and 2010 with over 3400 electronic forms being submitted during 2010.
In the immediate future we will continue to develop and increase opportunities for customers to transact electronically with us. We are currently developing an online benefit application which can be used by customers and staff alike.
Sarah Goodman - Internet Business Manager