BACKGROUND

Local authorities are under considerable pressure from government to take a more business-like approach to their responsibilities including their customer interface.  Many are therefore facing challenges which are new to them but which have been experienced before in the private sector  

What experience does Obsidian have in this sector?

Obsidian has considerable experience of working with local authorities: for example we have helped them with organisational and individual performance management and the “golden thread” linking these, knowledge management, programme/project management and teamwork. We have coached a number of local authority senior executives.

Nature of client's problem

The authority was seeking to strengthen its understanding of its current processes and performance in customer service delivery. A range of different approaches and procedures had evolved in an unstructured way, varying from department to department. Information about interactions with customers was limited and was not collated in a consistent and meaningful way, making it difficult to make decisions based on factual information  

Obsidian's experience in this problem area?

Obsidian consultants have extensive experience of customer relationship management, process mapping, customer surveys, and structuring disparate data within both the private and public sectors.

Objectives of Product/service offered by Obsidian  

To provide

•  a ‘map’ of the current customer service delivery processes and procedures
• an analysis of the staff involved in delivering customer service and details of their involvement
• a comparison of the variations in the way that customer service is delivered
• a summary of the effectiveness of customer service and recommendations as to the areas that need to be addressed
• the strengths and weaknesses of the existing management information systems and proposals for beneficial changes  

Why did the client choose Obsidian?

Our understanding of the local authority environment coupled with the ability to bring in best practice from the private sector, and our pragmatic approach, “working with” the client rather than “doing to”..

 How the assignment was carried out

Determination of customer perceptions:

• Review and collation of current statistics
• Sample telephone survey with members of the public
• Face-to-face interviews with members of the public

Map the processes

• Interview senior managers
• Review relevant documentation ‘Activity logs’ (whereby employees are asked to record specific information relating to the service provided to the public etc.).
• Collate and ‘map’ the results of the above for each service area
• ‘Test’ the validity of the mapping outcomes. - short sessions for each service area to enable individuals, in an informal way, to comment on the maps,  to ensure that everyone had the opportunity of contributing to the process and providing additional valuable information.

Stakeholder workshop involving Members, Partnership organisations etc. to discuss findings.

Report and recommendations