SDS recently attended the first meeting of the Smart Kent and Medway working group. We discussed some potential pilot projects we could work together on, all of which utilise information and technology to improve outcomes for residents.
The LGA Behavioural Insights Programme has just announced the 8 councils who were granted £20,000 to develop behavioural insights and new ways to nudge residents’ behaviour. A positive change in residents’ behaviour can reduce the pressure on strained councils. The funding programme is competitive. Councils complete projects such as Knowsley Borough Council increasing the uptake […]
The aim of an IVR system is to enable users to help themselves without human involvement and to route customer to the right call agent, who can satisfy their needs, on their first attempt. An IVR system can have great benefits such as increasing customer satisfaction and the efficiency of the contact centre. However, IVR […]
Hats off to Kent Connects for a great Smart Cities conference! The excellent collection of speakers helped us to understand how the Smart City agenda is relevant to local authorities and how we at SDS can get involved. Lost in translation The term Smart Cities has become slightly lost in translation over the last few […]
Chatbots are capable of supporting key service areas. In particular, they are aimed at high-contact areas with repetitive enquiry types. Also, chatbots can improve the user experience by providing a seamless journey The key requirements for a chatbot in local government: Able to answer the top 20 questions per council department. Authenticate the customer before […]
Sevenoaks District Council requested an analysis of their housing advice web pages with an emphasis on improving how customers reach specific housing forms. We created personas to illustrate the customer journey for a customer who would be homeless tonight and a person who could be homeless in 56 days.
Gravesham Borough Council recognised an opportunity to improve market traders experience by implementing a market management and booking system for Gravesend Borough Market. SDS completed a best practice research project on their behalf.
SDS have reached the half-way point in the Skype for Business project for Mid Kent Services. The key aim of the project is to capture and analyse feedback from staff and other data sources to assess how well the partnership is utilising Skype for Business and what more can be done to maximise the benefits the service can provide teams.
SDS carried out research into contact centre best practices and alternative customer service channels as well as a review of Gravesham Borough Council’s IVR telephone system. The research involved a comparison of IVR menus with other councils, a list of top hints and tips, demand management good practice and case studies of IVRs from the public and private sector. SDS also included examples of channel shift.
The SDS Team were invited to attend the Spring Socitm Conference in London on 27th April. The conference involved a variety of guest speakers from across the ICT sector, local public services and private sector partners. The conference offered a great platform for us to see and catch up with our existing partners (always nice to see some friendly faces!) as well as offering us the opportunity to meet and chat with other representatives, not only from the public sector, to forge new relationships.