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From: Dan Jellinek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 January 2008 16:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: E-Government Bulletin, 21 January 2008: ICT and sustainability; Inching towards new web access guidelines; Customer relationship management in the public sector
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+++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN
- ISSUE 255, 21 January 2008.
- A Headstar Publication
http://www.headstar.com .
IN THIS ISSUE: ICT and sustainability; Inching towards new web access guidelines; Customer relationship management in the public sector.
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++Special notice: Mobile and Flexible Working in the Public Sector
- 23 January 2008, RIBA, London
http://www.headstar-events.com/flexible08/ .
Mobile and flexible working practices can help public sector bodies'
staff work closer to the citizen and reduce the carbon footprint of your organisation. And flexible working practices ensure that services can be delivered 24-7.
The third annual conference on Mobile and Flexible Working in the Public Sector will take place this week, on 23 January 2008, at RIBA, central London. A superb speaker line-up features Stephen Regan, Head of Management and Technologies Programmes at Cranfield University; and Colin Rowland of Cheshire County Council. For the full programme and to register online, see:
http://www.headstar-events.com/flexible08/ .
[Special notice ends].
++Issue 255 Contents.
01: Positive Audit Assessment for Online Driver Services
- but transport agencies must plan better to realise full benefits.
02: February Milestone On Road To Web Access Guidelines
- Deadline for public comment on 'final working draft'.
03: Only One in Five Schools Make Good Use of Technology
- Research finds most primaries and secondaries not 'e-mature'.
News in Brief: 04: Totally Excellent - Manchester website award; 05:
Governance Failings - silos in Irish e-government; 06: Socitm Changes
- Kate Mountain leaves.
Section Two: Focus - ICT and Sustainability.
07: Working Smart: Scrapping Buildings to Save Trees: ICT is responsible for up to 4% of CO2 emissions worldwide. Dan Jellinek reports on a programme in Wakefield using flexible working and simple techniques like network printer management to slash its environmental impact.
Section Three: Analysis - Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the Public Sector.
08: Assembling The Single View: CRM is not a new concept in the public sector, but it operates very differently from private sector systems, says Rob Denton. Individual accuracy and universal inclusion are vital.
[Contents ends].
++Special Notice: e-Access 08: Technology for All
- Access to Services by People with Disabilities
- 50 pound Early Bird Discount until 8 February
- 23 April 2008, Church House Conference Centre, London http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess08/ .
Headstar's fourth annual conference and exhibition on access to technology by people with disabilities is on 23 April 2008 in central London.
The information revolution and new technologies can change the lives of people with disabilities, but all service providers must ensure that their access, marketing and IT strategies are in line with best practice.
It's not just about the web, but about e-learning, digital TV, mobile phones, and other portable devices. E-Access 08 is the place to find out more about how to comply with the law; what elements to include in your access policies and strategies; and find out about the latest in access technology.
Supported by E-Access Bulletin, E-Government Bulletin, RNIB and Ability Magazine our spring event is a must for every modern organisation. Places normally cost 195 pounds for public sector delegates or 295 pounds for private sector delegates, including all sessions, exhibition, lunch and refreshments. However, if you register on or before 8 February you will receive a 50 pound discount. For more information see:
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess08/ .
[Special notice ends].
++Section One: News.
+01: Positive Audit Assessment for Online Driver Services.
A positive picture of electronic services for drivers and vehicle owners was painted by a National Audit Office report into six of the main services in this field, published last week.
The report, 'Electronic service delivery in the driver, vehicle and operator agencies in Great Britain'
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/drive1), scrutinised three Department of Transport agencies: the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; the Driving Standards Agency; and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency. The bodies are among the first to make large scale public services available electronically and online, and to make their services available primarily through the Directgov website, the report says.
To date, the agencies have made 15 services available electronically, through which they handled 50 million electronic transactions in 2006- 07. Six of these services were reviewed by the NAO, which together accounted for 12.6 million transactions over the period. The six were applications for provisional driving licence; booking of driving tests (both practical and theory); taking driving theory tests; upgrading from a provisional to full driving licence; buying car tax or making a Statutory Off?Road Notification; and changing commercial vehicle operators' records.
The report found the services had resulted in high levels of customer satisfaction; reduced turnaround times; and the ability to provide additional services, for example allowing customers to check the details held by the agencies on their vehicle and on their driver records.
There have also been improvements in internal processes which should lead to financial savings in all six services. For example, giving commercial vehicle operators the ability to amend their own details enabled a wider modernisation and centralisation programme which the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency estimates has saved 58 full time equivalent staff and £1.4 million a year from April 2007.
Some concerns were also highlighted. The agencies need to have actively managed, thorough, complete and up to date benefit realisation plans in place from the outset of projects, the report found. And despite high take up of most of the services, use of online application for a provisional driving licence by learner drivers was just 4 per cent in 2006-07, mainly because of difficulties in proving people's identity online.
Further research is needed into whether or not there is a case to replace the paper tax disc system with a wholly electronic system, the NAO said. While an electronic system could generate savings, the Association of Chief Police Officers has expressed concerns about the potential loss of paper discs. ACPO's concerns include that social pressure of neighbours and citizens being able to see and report an untaxed vehicle would be lost; some people might be more inclined to risk evading car tax; current vehicle databases are not yet sufficiently fully accurate to enable 'real-time' checks; and the technology required to carry out real time checks is not yet sufficiently developed or available to the vast majority of patrolling officers.
+02: February Milestone On Road To Web Access Guidelines.
Another step towards publication of the long-awaited international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) will be reached on 1 February, with the closing of the call for public comment on a final working draft.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the web standards body responsible for WCAG 2.0, says the project "may" now be completed in 2008. It will have been a long journey: the first working draft was published in 2001 and since then eleven different versions have been produced addressing more than 2,500 issues raised in public consultation. Previously promised publication targets have been missed several times.
The guidelines are the main international benchmark for accessibility of websites to people with disabilities. According to W3C, WCAG 2.0 will apply more broadly to different web technologies as they develop in the future. The WCAG 2.0 requirements will also be more testable, and better guidance for compliance will be issued.
The three levels of compliance - 'A', 'AA' and 'AAA' - will remain, although the series of prioritised 'checkpoints' of WCGA 1.0 will be replaced by 'success criteria' which can be graded by level. For example, for on-screen text, a colour contrast ration of at least 5:1 would meet level AA requirements while 7:1 would meet AAA.
Most web sites that conform to WCAG 1.0 should not require significant changes in order to conform to WCAG 2.0, and some organisations have already started to use the draft guidelines, according to W3C. Issues and comments regarding on the latest draft may be submitted until 1 February 2008, at:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ .
NOTE: This story originally appeared in E-Government Bulletin's sister publication, E-Access Bulletin (see http://www.headstar.com/eab ).
+03: Only One in Five Schools Make Good Use of Technology.
Just one in five UK primary and secondary schools are making full use of ICT in the classroom to improve children's learning, according to figures released by the government's lead education technology agency Becta (http://www.becta.org.uk).
The agency calculated the figure by adjusting and updating the results of a 2004 survey by the consultancy PwC using its own 'e-maturity'
research, carried out annually between 2004 and 2007. The 2004 survey had estimated percentages of e-mature schools at 10% for primary and 14% for secondary.
The new survey was released alongside the launch of a major new Becta campaign, 'Next Generation Learning', aimed at increasing the use of technology in education ( http://www.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk ).
A perception gap between what parents thought of technology and how much it was actually being used was highlighted by the survey, which found that some 95 per cent of parents think the effective use of technology can help their child learn; 78 per cent of parents think technology can bring subjects to life; and 63 per cent of parents think using technology effectively can help improve exam results.
However, it also found that parents are more comfortable talking to their children about drugs, alcohol and bullying than about technology.
And while 94 per cent of parents find it easier to keep in touch by text and email, only 30 per cent are ever contacted by their child's school by text or email.
"With people increasingly interacting online and creating and using lots of different media to support their entertainment and friendships, learning which does not make the most of the opportunities provided by technology could be increasingly regarded by learners as dull or irrelevant," said Stephen Crowne, Becta's Chief Executive.
"Businesses also need people with the skills to make the most of this new environment."
News in Brief:
+04: Totally Excellent: Manchester City Council's website has won
the local government category the first BT Online Excellence Awards, designed to find people's favourite websites. Thousands of public nominations were reduced to a shortlist by a panel of judges, before a final round of public voting on the winners. Runners-up in the category were Camden, Glasgow, Hounslow and Blackburn councils:
http://www.btonlineexcellence.com/ .
+05: Governance Failings: The channelling of e-government funding
through 'silos' within government rather than across the whole of government; inadequate governance structures; weak planning; and unrealistic expectations were among failures highlighted by a report from Ireland's comptroller and auditor general John Purcell into the country's recent attempts to put all public services online.
Improvements in governance are being made however, and a full review is underway of the 'Public Services Broker' portal project. For the full text of the auditor's 'Special report number 58', see:
http://www.audgen.gov.ie .
+06: Socitm Changes: The chief executive of the local government
Society of IT Management, Kate Mountain, has resigned from her post with immediate effect. Her resignation paves the way for implementation of a full-scale corporate review, due to be completed by the end of March, which is likely to herald a major restructure and rationalisation of the society's research, events and consultancy activity. Mountain joined Socitm in 2002 following spells as head of IT for Liverpool and Oxford city councils. During her tenure the society's membership has risen to include IT managers in 95% of UK local authorities:
http://www.socitm.gov.uk .
[Section One ends].
++Section Two: Focus
- ICT and Sustainability.
+07: Working Smart: Scrapping Buildings to Save Trees
by Dan Jellinek.
The figures are compelling. Worldwide, technology industry figures suggest that IT is responsible for between 2 and 4 per cent of global
CO2 emissions, delegates heard at Headstar's recent conference
'Techno-footprint: ICT and sustainability in the public sector'.
In the UK, the government is by far the biggest user of IT, spending around 12 billion pounds on it a year. The New Local Government Network has calculated that local councils could introduce measures that would save 320 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2025.
In one council in the North of England, such savings are becoming a reality thanks to a multi-pronged approach that ties together flexible, mobile and home working; reductions in energy use; reductions in printing; and other measures.
Gavin Rimmington, head of strategic procurement and e-services at Wakefield, told delegates that the council's 'Worksmart' initiative is acting as "a catalyst in driving out environmental benefits through new ways of working."
The main driver for the Worksmart programme was the state of the council's property portfolio: there were large numbers of properties, many not fit for purpose, and being used inefficiently and expensively.
Other factors included high administrative overheads; staff being tied to their desks; and a need to improve citizen focus.
Working with BT for analysis and advice, the council devised a strategy which will reduce the number of buildings it uses from 34 in
2006 to just 6 in 2009. All office staff will be moved into one of four
'workstyles': workplace-based (50 per cent); flexible workplace based (20 per cent); mobile - workplace or home-based (20 per cent); and fully home-based (10 per cent).
With flexible workplace-based staff hotdesking is in place, plus a clean desk policy whereby all papers and possessions must be removed from the desk and kept in a personal locker.
In some areas of work, the numbers of staff working like this are high:
in Rimmington's own e-services department, for example, some 80% of workers are adopting some level of home working. This has meant that occupancy of office space could be increased by 156 per cent, with
144 employees sharing a space which used to serve 56 people.
"The clear desk policy and the fact that there are no nominated desks means workers have to be more considerate of how much paper and documentation they use," Rimmington said. At first some workers felt the system would be too impersonal, but once they saw the environmental and other benefits it brings they were won over, he said.
"We also use keycoded network printers, so no-one has a personal printer. A code and PIN protect confidentiality, so you print a document and then go to the printer to enter your PIN before it comes out. We also ran a culture campaign - 'think before you print' - and found it has halved the number of pages printed.
"It is not considered cool any more to print reams off. And with PINs we can use Big Brother statistics, and see who prints a lot!"
The council is also looking wider as part of an integrated carbon management plan, and in IT this means improving energy use at the datacentre; ensuring sustainable disposal of electronic waste; and sustainable procurement practices.
Wakefield is also working with Microsoft as part of the company's 'shared learning group', bringing together 12 councils to improve working practices across various areas. Wakefield leads the group's 'sustainability through technology' workstream. Work has ranged from reducing the margins in Microsoft Word files to print more information on fewer pages; to looking at how printer drivers could be adjusted to default to more environmentally-friendly settings such as double-sided printing.
Next steps will include looking at policies and systems to initiate programmed auto-shutdown of networked PCs and other networked devices such as printers and scanners, to save energy; and an examination of the potential environmental benefits of audio and video conferencing.
It is a complex programme, but the results are tangible. As Rimmington says, the printing savings alone have seen the council's paper consumption slashed by 10 boxes a month, or 25,000 sheets, a reduction of around 70 per cent. "I am told that 15,000 sheets of A4 equals one tree, so 300,000 fewer sheets a year means we're saving around 20 trees."
[Section Two ends].
++Sponsored Notice: EDem2008 Conference
- 29-30 September 2008
- Danube University Krems, Austria
Questions to be asked by the annual EDem2008 conference in Krems, Austria - organised by the Danube University Krems with the Vienna University of Economics - will include:
- To what extent can e-democracy support and enrich our democracy?
- How can e-participation be integrated into current political and public administration processes?
- How can we ensure that the greatest number of people are reached?
- What are the limitations and the risks of e-democracy?
The attendance fee will be 95 euros. Papers can now be submitted for consideration in either of the event's two parallel languages, English or German, by 15 April 2008. For more information please visit:
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/egov
[Sponsored notice ends].
++Section Three: Analysis
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the Public Sector.
+08: Assembling The Single View
by Rob Denton.
The notion of the importance of effective customer relationship management in the public sector is not new.
The CRM National Project was part of the government's Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) programme for local authorities which concluded at the end of 2005. However, sceptics have commented that the real work around implementing CRM in the public sector really started after the main e-government deadlines had passed.
What such commentators suspect is that when they were under pressure to hit IEG targets, councils mainly concentrated on implementing the 'low hanging fruit' of council services, and that these tended to be more informational than transactional. Now, any further roll-out of CRM initiatives is motivated not by the need to meet central e-government targets, but must demonstrate a justification either showing service improvement or saving cost.
On a positive note, efficiency gains projected by local authorities are, in the main, being achieved, according to data from the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, actual gains for 2006-
07 were falling far short of original forecasts in the Autumn of last year
- the last set of data published by DCLG.
In taking CRM techniques and technology from the private sector, the public services have recognised key similarities, but also major differences. It is worth rehearsing these.
CRM practitioners talk about building the 'single customer view' in order to be 'customer-centric'. This has a direct translation into the local government context. Understanding service delivery and need on a person-by-person basis allows patterns of service consumption to be far better understood. Clusters of multi-service users can be identified, opening up opportunities to make service delivery more efficient. From the other perspective, unexpected pockets of service non-usage can also be spotted, so that resources can be better directed to encourage take-up. After all, this kind of best practice can attract supplementary funding - so there is a real reward for getting it right.
Perhaps the greatest gulf between private and public sector CRM practice opens up in activities such as 'segmentation'. For a start, where commercial organisations can choose to simply ignore a section of populace if they wish, the public sector is duty bound to offer its services to everyone, and encourage their uptake. This leads to what has been labelled 'segmentation inversion'. In other words, the private sector concentrates on the customers who buy most and deliver most profit. But public sector organisations focus on the section of society that is most needy, and therefore least wealthy.
No-one can be ignored, all must be included. This has a profound implication for the efficiency of communications channels employed.
While we want to encourage the greatest possible engagement with citizens over the internet, figures from the Office of National Statistics make it clear that two fifths of UK households do not have an internet connection. Those households divide into those who simply do not want the internet in their homes (a minority) and those who cannot afford it (a majority). The consequence is a need to offer channels that have universal reach and/or affordability, or which can be offered free at the point of communication - and that has tended to mean post and phone. Some leading councils are now waking up to the fact that outbound communications can be consolidated (one envelope with several departments' communications in it) to save literally millions on print, production and postage.
Interestingly, during the great e-government push between 2002 and 2005, some of the greatest benefits and efficiencies were achieved not through citizens self-serving over the web, but rather in the efficiency and effectiveness of local authority contact centres. By having a single customer view, which joined-up all the information and records on the citizen calling in, queries could be answered faster and resolved more effectively. It has been reported that one council put its call answering rates up from 50% to 95%, as well as producing a similar hike in customer satisfaction, through the implementation of a single customer view in the call centre.
Centralisation of query handling, along with automated information retrieval by the caller has certainly improved service quality, along with the important side benefit of being able to spot fraud more easily.
The last available report into the subjects reported annual losses of around £600m from housing benefit fraud, so any method of identifying and preventing such losses is highly desirable.
Another key difference between public and private sector CRM is the greater need for individual accuracy in the public services. Commercial marketers can get away with making a few errors with customers. In fact, the whole prospecting routine is predicated largely on a customer's likely tastes and preferences rather than actual, known facts about them. The accuracy of individual details in the public services is, by contrast, paramount. Imagine the repercussions of refusing key support services to the genuinely needy, or over-charging citizens, or getting a child's educational eligibility wrong, or offering benefits to the wrong people. CRM practitioners in the public sector have to build into their strategies the ever-present truth that if things go wrong through inaccuracy or poor practice, the effects will be not just administrative and managerial, but could also fuel political change.
Finally, customer satisfaction with public services - or rather customer dissatisfaction - tends to end up in punishment at the ballot box. Yet how rigorously are satisfaction levels monitored and measured?
Especially at the local government level, it is in the citizen's interest to vote for the party, and indeed the individual councillors, who have delivered service quality and improvement, rather than merely swaying to and fro on a dogmatically political agenda with no connection to actual delivery of policies. Two commercial CRM techniques are starting to be used here: firstly, satisfaction levels are being gathered either face-to-face or on the phone, as services are consumed or queries answered; secondly, mystery shopping is being introduced by some councils to independently test service quality, whether delivered by in- house or outsourced staff.
There are a variety of quality and efficiency gains that local authorities are experiencing by adopting customer-centric CRM strategies, services and systems, with much of that gain being focused on centralising operations in a contact centre, whether in-house or outsourced. Quality gains are mainly from calls being answered (at all!), the citizen's profile being recognised by a system drawing on multiple legacy data sources, and then the agent also being able to get to the right information quickly, with which to answer or refer the query.
The task of ensuring the right information is communicated to the right person quickly and accurately still has vast room for improvement in local authorities, despite the advances already achieved. Local government is required to deliver some £6.45 billion by 2007/8. That's a tall order, but one where better management of inbound and outbound communications is playing a major role.
NOTE: Rob Denton is Managing Director of Navigator Customer Management.
[Section Three ends].
++END NOTES.
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ISSN 1476-6310
+PERSONNEL
Editor - Dan Jellinek.
Additional reporting: Majeed Saleh.
Associate Editors - Derek Parkinson, Mel Poluck.
Marketing and Sales Team - Claire Clinton, Jo Knell, Will Knox.
[Issue 255 ends].
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