Local government · Customer requests · EVA
IT was waiting on the business. The business was waiting on IT. Meanwhile, the customer had no idea what was happening.
The result: five customer standards agreed by directors, every request area ready for IT in 8 weeks, and a method the council now runs itself.
5
customer standards agreed by directors and built into every request area
8
weeks to get a request area ready for IT, using one method
23
service request types now in a program plan
We call this
optimising the system they have, while building the case for the one they need
The friction
Friction at every layer
Everyone was working hard. With no agreed standard for how requests should be handled, the friction showed up at every level of the organisation, and the customer felt all of it.
How IT saw it
Nobody would say what they needed. IT couldn't build without clear requirements, so changes stalled.
How the business saw it
Every change took too long. IT seemed to block things that should have been simple.
Directors
Pulled into operational discussions they shouldn't have been part of, because nobody had agreed who decides what.
Elected members
No visibility of where requests were up to when residents came to them for answers.
Customers
Upset and chasing updates, with no idea whether their request had landed, stalled or been done.
Twenty-three request areas were waiting to be brought up to standard. Each one tackled so far had been done a different way, with no shared method to repeat.
For residents, every request started from scratch. The system couldn't link requests to the same person, so someone with three different requests looked like three different customers, each with no history.
How we fixed it
EVA: Engage, Validate, Adapt
Our method starts with the people a system exists to serve and works inward, so every change is built on what is really happening.
E
Engage
We designed the engagement and heard from customers, departments, frontline staff and IT, then completed a full analysis of the pilots to date.
What we found: everyone was working toward a target nobody had agreed. The system was called a CRM, but it could only receive, route and close requests.
V
Validate
We ran alignment sessions with directors and managers to test the findings and agree the way forward. Together they set the customer standards, made the key decisions, and built the decision-making matrix and governance steps.
What shifted: alignment. Directors, managers, the business and IT now work to the same standards and the same decisions, and IT gets one stable set of requirements.
A
Adapt
We delivered our flagship CX training to every new work area as it came on board, and built the templates and framework for ongoing delivery, including a 9-step delivery framework IT owns.
What shifted: every request area now reaches IT with requirements agreed, and service levels and dashboards measure the result.
What changed
Before and after
"The best bit on this was when we all came together and realised we all wanted the same thing: a unified customer experience."
What we left behind
When we stepped out, the council had what it needed to keep going
A repeatable process
A tested process, templates and framework to deliver the remaining service request workflows, run by their own teams.
A clear CX strategy
A clear customer experience strategy for the organisation to build on as each new work area comes on board.
Customer measures
Service levels and dashboards, so teams can see whether customers are being kept informed and act on it.
Sound familiar?
- Is IT waiting on requirements the business hasn't written?
- Does every request area follow its own method?
- Can you tell whether customers are being kept informed?
We'll show you how EVA could work in your organisation.
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