South Kesteven is, in some ways, fairly early into its digital journey but has been busy developing the foundations to ensure its success. Since 2011 the council has been driving forward a cultural change programme called "Unlocking our Potential".
Building on a set of agreed values the council has modernised its approach to people, performance and processes. The council's project and performance management framework has strengthened the links between our priorities and their delivery so everyone is clear of our focus, for example, on economic growth.
We have introduced a behavioural framework for all managers and staff, improved staff engagement and developed an agile workforce – leading to increased cohesion, the sense of being one organisation rather than lot of individual services. Customer access and improved satisfaction underpinned by consistent procedures and protocols has led to some key changes in complaints handling, and all staff are now aware of the importance of the customer seeing us as one organisation. All of this is backed by comprehensive people and customer access strategies that we have developed though extensive consultation.
So, what has this got to do with our digital journey? We believe we now have a workforce that is clear about what we need to do, how we need to do it and why. They are now looking for the tools to help them with this journey. As with many councils it is not the lack of systems that is an issue, but the ability to join up and have a single view of the customer. Our values of not passing the buck with customers and helping to resolve their query in the quickest way are now embedded.
This has been tested in two ways recently. Firstly we rolled out to our high volume services a single council number solution which now allows us to gather considerable customer data. Not only was this project delivered in a matter of weeks rather than months – and with minimal resistance - but other services are now asking to be put on the system so they can build their own customer information. This will enable all other direct telephone lines to be stripped from the website and a single route into all services.
Secondly we equipped all our social housing repairs operatives with mobile devices which allow them to start and finish from home, download new jobs on the move and provide instant feedback from customers into the office. Again this was done with minimal fuss or resistance and each operative is completing at least one additional job a day as well as reducing travelling costs.
We are now moving onto a much more ambitious agenda and having reviewed all our systems and created some dedicated project management resources, we are looking to invest in council wide technological customer focused solutions. Having taken time to create the firm foundations and right environment we are confident our investment will be well deployed to create the sort of efficiencies and customer satisfaction necessary for a prosperous and sustainable future for the council.
Sue Griffiths is head of projects, people and performance at South Kesteven district council. Content on this page is produced and controlled by Tata Consultancy Services
