Better connected, Better answered Maximising the effectiveness of councils' phone and web channels

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Better connected, Better answered Maximising the
effectiveness of councils' phone and web
channels

• Peter Ryder, President
• Society of IT Management

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Websites are fundamental to efficient,
transformed public services

• BUT
• Only if they are
• Useful (good, relevant, comprehensive content)
• Usable (easy to search, navigate use)
• Used (good take up, especially by residents)
• AND
• Joined up with other channels - especially the
  phone

3
Better connected Socitms annual survey of all
local authority websites

• Our ninth annual survey published March
• Research team visits all 468 council sites
• Using a questionnaire (93 questions in 2007) they
  assess whether they are useful, usable and used
• Sites are ranked as excellent, transactional or
  standard
• Resulting report blends hard facts, informed
  researcher opinion and constructive advice on how
  to improve.

4
Better connected Socitms annual survey of all
local authority websites

• In 2007, 121 sites rated transactional more
  than double the number in 2006
• Improvement across many measures
• BUT
• Usability still a problem on many sites (poor
  search, navigation etc)
• Some features off-putting (un-neccesary
  requirement to register to use services) or hard
  to use (planning registers)

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Growth in transactional sites since 1999
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Our top twenty sites in 2007

• Barking Dagenham
• Barnet (New)
• Brent
• Bromley (New)
• Bury MBC (New)
• Camden
• Elmbridge BC (New)
• Lambeth
• Merton (New)
• Milton Keynes

• North Lincolnshire (New)
• Nuneaton Bedworth BC (New)
• Salford City
• Shropshire CC (New)
• South Norfolk DC (New)
• Southwark (New)
• Surrey CC
• Warwick DC (New)
• West Lancashire DC (New)
• Wrexham CBC

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But are websites good enough yet to get
substantial numbers of customers to self-service
their enquiries and create associated efficiency
gains?
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What do we know about website usage?

• Socitms Website Take Up Service is building a
  picture of website usage nationally and locally
• 25 of the population visited a council site in
  December 2006
• 67 were sufficiently satisfied to say theyd
  come again
• We can now benchmark of residents using the
  website in different authority areas

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Percentage of local population using website
Sample of sites across UK (January 2007)

• Tameside MBC 33.7
• Bracknell Forest 33.2
• Camden 31.7
• Westminster 30.4
• Manchester City 29.7
• Islington 24.8
• Salford City 23.5
• Leicester City 20.7
• Southwark 20.0
• North Lincolnshire 19.9
• Bristol City 18.9
• Lewisham 18.7
• Wolverhampton City 18.4 (Source Socitm Website
  Takeup Service)

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What we are learning about takeup success

• Socitm is soon to publish Better marketed
  achieving success with take-up of online services
  
• Report shares lessons from case studies from six
  councils that have achieved significant takeup
  with six different services
• Services include planning, recruitment, waste
  collection, school admissions, parking and
  housing lettings
• The report also covers some general publicity
  campaigns undertaken to boost council website
  take up.

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What we are learning about takeup success

• Leicester City is now getting 85 of its job
  applications online.
• 58 of Bristol City parents applying for school
  places in 2007 did it electronically.
• Walsall MBC received more than 50 of planning
  applications in February online.
• In South Oxon DC, 55 of applicants for new
  recycling bins ordered online.
• In Warwick DC, more than 70 of choice-based
  letting bids

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What we are learning about takeup success

• The report shows that take up success is about
• Responding to customer demand and anticipating
  need
• Paying great attention to the usability of the
  online option (using research, testing, feedback)
• Engaging staff with the online development
• It is NOT about spending a lot of money on
  advertising

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But there is much more to be done to ensure that
councils make the most of the investments they
have made in websites. Late last year, Socitm
Insight undertook a study to explore the extent
to which web and telephone channels are joined
up.
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Better answered new survey of local authority
handling of telephone enquiries

• Published December 2006
• Assessed how all council websites were presenting
  phone contact infomation
• Tested the out-of-hours message for references to
  the website as an alternative
• Used mystery shopping technique to test how
  well councils were handling phone enquiries (50
  councils) and how joined-up web and phone
  channels were

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Better answered new survey of local authority
handling of telephone enquiries

• .

Just 8 councils out of 468 match our best
practice model for presenting telephone contact
information Just 21 of councils refer callers
to the website in out-of-hours messages Researche
rs were often passed on to other individuals or
organisations, or called back, when information
being sought was actually available on the website
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Better connected? Better answered?

• Clearly most local authorities do not yet have a
  fully integrated view of customer service across
  their activities.
• This needs attention because in future,
  efficiency and success in managing contact with
  citizens will increasingly depend on an
  integrated, multi-channel approach.