How may I help you?

On Tuesday, I spoke at a conference aimed at call centre managers. I was asked to speak to them about - you guessed it - performance management. Now I do know about performance management in general, but really I have very little experience of performance management within a call centre. Well, except that after university I worked in a couple of call centre jobs and in one I was sorta performance managed right out the door, but that's another story.

I had a couple of interesting examples. One was about good call handling stats but poor resolution at one London council - illustrating the importance of getting the "back office" right. And another example that I picked up from a conference in the Autumn:

David Cook [Chief Executive at Kettering] had the best "back to the floor" type tip. He regularly listens in on randomly selected customer calls to the council on tape on his drive home. This helps him get a finger on the pulse of what the main customer issues are, and also on how customer service is being handled in the council.

Well, as it turns out, I didn't get to use either of my examples. (I only had about 10 minutes to speak and the rest of the slot was "panel discussion" - which was actually an interesting format.) Instead what I concentrated on was the importance of call centres (and other transactional services) in collecting and using the large volume of customer data that's available. This will be of increasing importance as customer and community engagement is emphasised through the policy and performance debate. And managers need to be collecting information about not just their own services (call volumes, response times, resolution rates, etc) but providing information about the performance of other council services (e.g. street cleansing).

As a sector, we have to get smarter about how we use customer data. The LGA have already done some work in this area. Putting the customer first is a study into the use of customer information to manage performance. This looks at prioritising the use of customer data and customer segmentation. Together with case studies, it has lessons which are equally applicable to work with partners. We also need to use this data to triangulate evidence around citizen complaints - for example is a community call for action valid? Call centre data could help validate a councillor's decision to refer a matter to scrutiny (or not).

Another policy matter, which I didn't fully have time to explore, was the Varney Review and shared services - and in particular the impact on customer service and efficiency. Councils who are in the process of reviewing or revamping customer service functions will be wise to take heed of efficiency implications of running a call centre on their own without clubbing in with neighbouring councils or partners.


See also:

• A listing of citizen and user engagement resources.
• The IDeA's customer service peer review can help you assess whether transactional and call centre data is being used effectively in your partnership.
• Julia Bennett has summarised a range of Customer service issues in the Policy and Performance Community of Practice (free registration required).

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Friday Funday

the lighter side of local government

Reduce, reuse, re-mourn?

Reducing waste to landfills is important responsibility for local government. Introducing waste charges might persuade some people to throw away less. But The Guardian has highlighted some interesting work that councils have done in reducing waste without imposing charges. And that includes innovating recylcing of and re-using materials. For example:

Tameside council, east of Manchester, promotes recycling while cutting carbon emissions, by running a recycling plant. The council then uses the plant's products, with plastic recycled for litterbin and park bench manufacture. As the latter are more resistant to arson than wooden ones, the council has re-introduced cemetery memorial benches. It is also considering plastic headstones.

"We can show children that the plastic they collect is used locally," says Robin Monk, head of environmental services.

What price local engagement?

When I worked in local government, we sometimes gave a small "appearance fee" to members of the public who gave up a wet Thursday evening to talk to us about say...highways maintenance.

But what if you're a member of the public who'd like to get involved - but maybe you just don't have the time? Could you hire a proxy to share your views on local services? Well, in Germany you can.

Young, good-looking, and available for around 150 euros (£100), more than 300 would-be protesters are marketing themselves on a German rental website.

OK, so they're mostly just willing to protest - but maybe they'd charge a little less to attend a neighbourhood forum - so long as sandwiches were provided.


Those don't grow on trees, you know

Pranksters were being held responsible today after a tree sprouted a strange fruit of shoes and boots.

Councils have to deal with all sorts -

Brenda Brooker, spokeswoman for Gosport Borough Council, said contractors had been tasked with taking the shoes down.

She said: "I know the winds have been strong of late but unless it blew down the changing rooms of the local football team and whistled up all the boots into the air, I suspect it is someone having a laugh."

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