- Many local authorities adding virtual services in order to minimise the impact of staff cuts on customer service

- Councils confused by the potential impact of Universal Credit on their plans for multi-channel service delivery

Milton Keynes, UK – 16 July 2013 Local authorities are finding ways to keep the doors open despite austerity-driven budget cuts forcing them to lose key members of staff. This is according to findings from a new research report from Qmatic, the world leader and innovator in customer flow management (CFM) solutions with primary research conducted by the independent market research agency Vanson Bourne.

The report, “Managing Change” found that the overwhelming majority (82%) of local authorities are having to, or intending to, cut staff resources in the next 12 months as a result of budget cuts. However, 78% of councils say that they still offer some form of face-to-face services for their citizens in spite of this. While recognising the overwhelming benefits that face-to-face offers, local authorities are turning to technology solutions like web services, Business Intelligence (BI) and queue management in order to offer services across a greater range of channels as an alternative to face-to-face meetings.

Technology to the rescue
76% of local authorities have been forced to cut local resources as a result of funding cuts in the last 12 months. Staff resources are among the hardest hit, with 82% of local authorities having to, or intending to, cut staff resources in the next 12 months.

In spite of the many perceived benefits of face-to-face services, the reality of budget cuts along with improvements to self-service technologies are enabling many councils to offer more services virtually, resulting in local authorities offering their services among multiple channels (face-to-face and virtual). In fact, 92% of the authorities surveyed are actively encouraging citizens to interact with services virtually, either online (51%), over the phone (8%) or both of these (33%). And in the past 12 months alone, 44% of authorities surveyed have seen an increase in citizens using online channels and a further 37% have seen an increase in both online and telephone channels.

Looking longer term and the march to technology becomes even more strategic. Most local authorities expect to implement a range of customer service technologies to monitor service delivery and improve the accessibility of services to their citizens. Of these, the rollout of web resources is by far the most widely expected to increase, with 88% agreeing. Self-service offerings are also expected to be more widely used; 70% of authorities in the next five years.

Inconclusive impact of Universal Credit
Despite being widely regarded as one of the biggest single changes to the UK benefits system for many decades, Universal Credit, which is scheduled for national rollout by 2017, is receiving mixed reaction from local authorities.

A significant number of councils, 39%, say that the move to Universal Credit makes the shift to multiple channels (the combination of face-to-face and virtual services) more important. However, more councils than not believe that Universal Credit has no bearing on their current strategies – with 42% saying that their strategy towards multiple channels is already a high priority regardless of Universal Credit and 19% saying it makes no difference as they do not link the two.

Negative impact of staff and buildings consolidation mitigated by queue management
At the same time as cutting resources, local authorities are looking to save money through the consolidation of staff and buildings. In fact, over eight in 10 (82%) have, are in the process of, or plan to consolidate buildings. Of those, over half (59%) are still underway. The consolidation of staff is slightly higher still, with five in six authorities (84%) consolidating staff. Of those with consolidation projects, nearly two thirds (70%) are still in progress.

Queue management systems have played a key role in managing the change brought about by the consolidation process. Altogether, close to three quarters (74%) of local authorities who are in the process of, or who have completed a consolidation project used or plan to use queue management technology in this process. The most popular reasons for using queue management technology are to increase customer satisfaction (35%), to ensure that customer waiting times are reduced (32%) and to ensure efficient use of resources in the new premises (31%)

“Local authorities should be praised for their innovation,” comments Steve Williams, Managing Director at Qmatic UK. “Despite facing some of the sharpest declines in funding in many decades, they are not closing their doors to the public. Instead they are thinking differently and finding new and interesting ways to use technology in order to serve their citizens even better than before.”

Download the full report at http://qmatic.com/uk/managing-change