Government Business

The more I read and see of the e-government agenda, the more I am convinced that technology is coming to be regarded as a Holy Grail – the securing of which will solve at a stroke virtually all the public sector’s customer relations problems.
    
Yes, in its aims to make services more accessible and user-friendly it is highly laudable. But while staff in central and local government get to grips, or attempt to get to grips with new electronic channels and CRM systems that will radically change the way they do their jobs, the danger is that some basics of good customer service will continue to be neglected.

Customer satisfaction
That central and local government in general fail to give customer service adequate regard has been all too-clearly shown up by the results of the ICS’s recent UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), the first such barometer to be launched in Britain.
    
We asked more than 6,000 interviewees to measure the performance of organisations and companies in 12 principal public and private sectors on a range of aspects that customers see as priorities.
    
So, how do local government, and government departments and agencies, come out of it? Not very well, to say the least. In fact, in every set of comparatives prepared from the index’s results they emerge as either the worst or close to it.

Satisfaction levels
In the index’s ‘league table’ of the 12 sectors, local government comes bottom, with a UKCSI score of only 58, and government departments and agencies fifth from bottom, scoring 65 out of 100.
    
To set this in perspective the local government outcome is a long way off that for the services sector with its score of 76 out of 100 making it the best performer, and also a long way below the UKCSI’s all-sector average of 69.
    
In separate tables giving satisfaction scores in 20 aspects, local government came bottom in 19. They included such key features as competence, friendliness and helpfulness of staff (three areas), handling of complaints, quality of service, speed of service, on-time delivery of solutions, provision of information and advice, enquiry handling, and keeping people informed.
    
They were beaten to bottom spot in the 20th table, for satisfactory outcomes of complaints, by government agencies and departments, which itself have little to bang its drum about.
      
On competence, friendliness and helpfulness of staff it performed fairly averagely, coming respectively sixth, fifth and sixth from bottom. On information and advice, too, it was fifth from bottom.
    
But on handling of complaints it came third bottom, quality of service second bottom, speed of service third bottom, on-time solutions second bottom, enquiry handling fourth bottom, and keeping people informed fourth bottom.
      
Some redemption was provided by the Ambulance Service. It was the most outstanding organisation across all 12 sectors, heading the government departments and agencies sector with a hugely impressive score of 92 out of 100.
    
The Fire Service, heading local government with 82, also distinguished itself. But though an encouraging number of them are rated highly in their areas, local councils collectively fared poorly.

Is technology the answer?
Can technology in itself cure the shortcomings thrown up by the index – enhance the image and the reputation of central and local government in the public eye? That does appear in some quarters to be a hoped-for ambition, but I very much doubt it.
    
There is no question electronic channels offer a valuable means of making government more accessible. But they cannot in themselves make people in contact centres, say, or at the end of IVR system friendlier, more willing, more flexible and more competent.
    
For that to happen there has to be a culture change within the public sector in the way customer service is seen.
    
John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, was right when in announcing a cross-government strategy to use technology more effectively he said: “Private companies have been swift to shape their services around people’s needs to raise their game and offer people the levels of convenience, choice and efficiency they
rightly demand.”
    
That is not the case for all companies, however. As well as being helpful in the private sector, technology can get in the way of effective customer relations. It can be a boon, or it can be a curse. Both telecoms and utilities rely heavily on technology for customer service, for example, and both rate poorly in the index.

People plus technology
The enlightened companies, those who see the direct link between satisfied customers and the bottom line, recognise that electronic solutions are only tools and not be-all and end-all solutions in themselves.
    
So they don’t just have contact centres: they have contact centres that are properly staffed with people who are able to offer competent, friendly, helpful advice and either handle complaints effectively themselves or quickly pass them on to someone who can. Witness First Direct with an outstanding UKCSI score of 87. And, despite that, they do not rest on their laurels as they know they must keep on improving which led them to join ICS recently.

Public vs. private sector
All the same, Mr Hutton was certainly right in indicating that the public sector can usefully take a leaf out of the private sector’s book. From time to time I meet public sector people – and we have many within our membership – who ask me what the ICS sees as the main differences in approach to customer service between public and private, bearing in mind that the profit element is a pivotal factor for the private sector.
    
My answer is: why should there be differences? If instead of profit we say the aims are to enhance a different bottom line - reputation, respect, or trust - or all three - isn’t the motive for engaging with those who seek our services just the same?
    
Trust, especially, is as vital in the public as the private sector. People want to be able to believe that central and local government organisations are spending the money they take from them wisely and that they value and respect them.
    
Furthermore, so far as service is concerned, customers do not differentiate by sector, or by agency or department, or by local authority against local authority. Customer service is perceived as good, bad or indifferent whether it comes from the Inland Revenue, the council housing department, the supermarket or the bank.

Sharing best practice
It makes good sense therefore for public and private organisations to share good practice and network much more. The ICS runs around 40 network forums every year, and we see an enormous amount of cross-pollination.
    
In many ways, by coming to the IT game later than the private sector, both central and local government have a huge advantage in that they can learn from the private sector’s experiences and mistakes.
    
They have an opportunity to ensure contact centres, for instance, focus on needs of the customer rather than on the cost cutting that puts budgets first and customers last.
    
Let me present a simple scenario: if I were to ask the question of the public sector: what would you rather spend your money on, training your staff in customer service or how to use a pen and read a book, the answer would be obvious (I hope).
    
They have an opportunity to ensure that IT is seen merely as a tool to help achieve an end, not an end in itself – that what matters is not the equipment but how the equipment is used to benefit the customer.
    
With the huge emphasis that is being placed on technology at present and the time, energy and pressures involved in its introduction it would be easy for local authorities to become IT blinkered.

Customer service training
Judging by my experience of public sector members of the ICS, however, I do not see that as a danger. Many county and district councils already well down the e-government road have shown that they also recognise the importance of customer service training.
    
That means equipping front-line staff not only with the right electronic kit but with such customer-facing essentials as the knowledge to handle enquiries and complaints at point of contact, effective complaints handling procedures, and a competent, friendly, helpful attitude.
    
They also work at engendering enthusiasm, pride, and a sense of self-worth and achievement that benefits not only the individual and the customer but also the organisation, for which a happy, dedicated workforce is the best possible asset.
    
One of the main routes to such an ideal is to give staff the opportunity to gain a worthwhile and respected professional qualification.

Qualifications
In customer service there is a full range of N/SVQs available for which more than half a million have already qualified or are studying, and ICS, which is the UK’s standards setting body for customer service, also has a comprehensive range of professional qualifications.
    
More and more, organisations and companies within the private sectors are coming to appreciate that some form of recognised accreditation programme can have great benefits in developing and maintaining standards of performance.
    
If they are to start moving up the UKCSI ‘league table’, more elements of central and local government must do the same. There is not the slightest reason that they cannot be right there at the top if they put customer priorities first and recognise that everything else, IT included, is but a means to that end.
    
And, finally, the public sector must learn to celebrate the fact that they are different rather than hide behind it. I am sometimes told that they will always score lowly on the UKCSI because it measures things that they are poor at. To me, that’s an opportunity for huge improvement. And, anyway, do they seriously want to measure only those aspects they are good at?