Agenda and draft minutes

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Officers were committed to ensuring that residents and customers consistently had a positive experience when interacting with them, regardless of the communication channel. The goal was to make interactions easier for people, not harder. To achieve this, they focused on several practical measures, such as offering 24/7 self-service options, resolving queries quickly (ideally on the first interaction), informing customers of expected response times, and ensuring that staff had all the necessary information to address inquiries. A solid digital infrastructure was essential to achieving these objectives efficiently and maximizing available resources, leading to the decision to procure a new solution when existing contracts ended.

The council's existing Cisco telephony and Granicus CRM systems were no longer adequate to support its strategic goals. With contracts for these systems expiring the following year, the council saw an opportunity to transform its technology, improving resident experiences. The Digital team conducted a comprehensive options appraisal and began the procurement process for a unified digital engagement platform, encompassing telephony, CRM, a customer portal (My Account), and a low-code development solution. After concluding the procurement process, it was determined that Supplier A's solution met all the council's requirements. In addition to replacing outdated technology, this unified platform would enhance capabilities, supporting the digital transformation necessary to meet savings targets and ensuring a superior experience for residents.

The new platform is expected to be instrumental in delivering major council change initiatives, such as a new customer service operating model. This model aimed to reflect customer preferences, improve resident experiences, enhance efficiency, and generate cost savings. The platform would also make it easier for customer service staff to serve residents effectively and enable self-service through automated telephony, web, email, SMS, social media, or webchat. It was designed to streamline and automate end-to-end transactions, reducing staff workload. Furthermore, the platform would provide data capabilities for a comprehensive view of customer interactions, supporting predictive analytics and data-driven decision-making across the organization. It was stated that the council’s Granicus contract was due to end in 9 months from now.

The Cabinet Member queried:

-       It was queried whether the new system the council is going to adopt has been trialled with other boroughs. It was stated that this system has been extensively trialled and a number of other boroughs are using it.

-       Whether this procurement would affect another system that is also due to come to end of contract.It was stated that it would be terminated as planned.

-       If as a council, there would be internal expertise on the software. It was explained there were a few members of staff with the expertise, but recruitment is currently underway to fill the void.

-       The Cabinet Member stated she would like updates on next steps. It was explained June would be a key delivery date and an update will be provided in June.

RESOLVED:

It was recommended that the Cabinet Member:

3. Recommendations

That Cabinet (Cabinet Member Signing) approves, in accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO’s) 7.01b and 9.07.1d,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Item 7 is likely to be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as it exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3 and 5, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.