A customer-centric Council
Swindon Borough Council has a vision to be a top-rated customer-centric council. The Council’s aim is to provide effective customer-focused services that represent value for money, are easily accessible by all and can resolve 80 percent of customer enquiries at the first point of contact.
The Council needed to transform its customer service function to put the customer right at the heart of service delivery. This called for a complete overhaul of the Council’s existing operations – the people, locations, business processes and underlying technology – to support a more customer-focused service. The Council recognised that to turn this vision into a reality, it would need to engage a partner with the expertise to challenge and improve its current business.
“Right from the outset, we made it clear to potential bidders that we wanted a strategic partner and not a contractor. I am delighted that we have achieved
exactly that and I am confident that our impressive transformation will gather even more momentum.”
Gavin Jones
Chief Executive
Swindon Borough Council
The Swindon Capita Partnership In 2007, Capita Group Plc entered into the Swindon Capita Partnership: a 15-year strategic partnership agreement with Swindon Borough Council valued at £242million and involving the transfer of nearly 400 Council staff.
The Swindon Capita Partnership is transforming the customer experience of dealing with the council by delivering improved customer services for the local community, supported by a transformed administration service and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) that is fit for purpose. The partnership is also transforming the way the council works by improving the internal support services it now runs such as financial administration; Human Resources (HR) and payroll; technical design; facilities management and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
The programme to transform the Council’s customer services, and put in place the business processes and technology to support delivery spans just 15 months of the long-term partnership. This extremely aggressive timescale was set by the Council in line with ‘Swindon 2010’, a definitive set of 50 promises that the Council has pledged to fulfil by the year 2010.
A strategic partner – not a contractor During the 15-year partnership, Capita will be providing high-quality, value-for-money services to the local community on behalf of the Council. Pre-agreed key performance indicators and project milestones will maintain the momentum of the transformation project.
However, this is where the similarities with a traditional outsourcing agreement end; from the start, Swindon Borough Council made it clear that it wanted a true strategic partner – not a contractor – to achieve its transformation. The vision is to work together, sharing the responsibilities and successes, the risks and the reward of partnership working. Challenging the traditional ‘us’ and ‘them’ contractor/client relationship. Capita and Swindon Borough Council both believe that such long-term, partnership-based relationships allow ongoing service improvements and enhancements to be achieved.
“The one stop shop went live without a glitch on 4 June, one of the busiest days of the month for the walk-in centre, and the contact centre went live on 13 August. What was achieved in the timescales was nothing short of a miracle.”
Suzanne Avent
Head of Customer Services
Swindon Direct
A true strategic partnership The Swindon Capita Partnership provides a blueprint for the Capita partnership model. A true strategic transformation partner, Capita shares the risks and responsibilities, and is committed to building a future that is rewarding for all parties. Swindon Direct represents the tangible result of this successful collaboration: a service delivery framework that has transformed the customer experience by putting the customer right at the heart of the Council’s operations.
The speed and complexity of the project is unprecedented in local government. From a standing start, the first services went live in the new one stop shop and contact centre within six months in what has been described as the calmest, yet fastest and most complex ‘go live week’ on record. Disruption to customer service has been minimised and just four months after ‘go live’ customer services logged their 125,000th customer interaction.
The Swindon Capita Partnership represents a genuine win-win solution both for Swindon Borough Council and for its customers. Through the partnership, the Council can benefit from:
- The support of an experienced transformation partner with the expertise and resources to help turn its customer-centric council vision into a reality.
- Assurance that the transformation programme’s aggressive timescales will be met through key performance indicators and pre-agreed project milestones.
- Continuous step changes in service improvements and enhancements, delivered in a managed and measurable way through a long-term, partner-based relationship.
Through the Swindon Direct delivery framework, the Council’s customers are benefiting from:
- Increased service accessibility delivered via a modern, one stop shop and a new contact centre, backed by a centralised business support unit.
- Faster and more cohesive services achieved by integrating business processes and systems to support enquiry resolution at the first point of contact.
- A consistently high level of service supported by fully trained teams.
Structured for future success The Swindon Capita Partnership will be working with the council in a further eleven service areas in 2008 to maximize opportunities to benefit from the one stop shop, contact centre and business support unit. With the technology and processes firmly in place to support the new ways of working, the Council’s customer focus looks set to intensify.
Contact us now for more information.