Posted on Sep 14, 2016 by Chad Duggan & Charlie Gilbert
Local Government are now adopting an omni-channel approach to an array of their front line services by offering online self-service appointment booking. Councils often ask us a very sensible question –“Where should we start?”
To help you through this selection process we have pulled together some questions you should consider and some top services we have seen piloted across local authorities.
Goals and Outcomes:
If you are choosing a particular service to pilot you will want to define the goals you are looking to achieve as a result of the pilot. Are you looking to prove a particular end to end workflow technically? Are you looking to replicate an existing process, or enhance it? Is the focus purely cost reduction or service availability? Is the service internal or public facing? All of these are valid questions. Also consider the services under the spotlight in terms of your wider transformation strategy.
Measurement:
It’s helpful to define some clear parameters on how you are looking to measure success. This will help to further a business case for wider adoption. For instance an adoption success metric – e.g. (we want ‘x’ % of users to have switched to an online service in ‘y’ time period) will help you put real numbers into a business case which can project forward.
The Service:
Some customers have looked to pilot BookingBug with a service that would benefit from self-service, but isn’t in the business critical camp. This may help you to implement the solution quickly with minimal disruption to the status quo, but also the impact and benefit may be less than other more prominent services. It’s often worth creating a matrix to rank the likely services in terms of who will gain most. This will help to define your roll out priorities.
Complexity:
When introducing BookingBug you may not want to integrate it to wider systems straight away, but there may be certain applications you need to ensure the solution sits within. We have been asked to test against payment engines, CRMs and a range of third party applications. It’s good to define these up front and understand whether they are really needed at this piloting stage or not.
Revenue Generation:
Some council services moving to self-service may also offer a new revenue opportunity. We’ve seen uptake for services such as Bulky Waste and Pest Control significantly improve throughout pilots.
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There are a range of services that BookingBug can be applied to, but there are a distinct Top 5 where we have seen real traction. Here’s why:
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Customer Service Centres
- It’s a hot topic area with lots of potential to streamline services
- It’s easy to switch BookingBug ‘off and on’ and only make the self-service option visible when it’s needed and hide it when its not.
- Likely to be related to a larger transformation programme
- Easy to measure the impact and model a business case
Bulky Waste
- Common customer booking journey
- Simple delivery model
- Option to evaluate payment integration capability
Registrars
- A number of use cases attached to this service e.g. Nationality Checking Service
- Questions are easy to replicate from other eform / paper / PDF forms
- Good option to move from test into production
Training Courses
- Lower service impact if the council is concerned about this as part of evaluation process
- Good case for promoting the Council’s learning and development policy
- Reduces administrative processes
Housing
- Often seen as a service that would benefit from simplification
- Allows you to show innovation with your service providers
- Option to evaluate essential back office systems
Remember that there is no right or wrong answer to where you choose to start. BookingBug is also not limited to the use cases mentioned, we are discovering new services that could benefit from an online appointment process all the time.
To find out a bit more about BookingBug and how it could help your council, call our team for an informal discussion on 0121 232 8050.
Or, if you prefer to see something a bit more visual, click the button below to book a demo.
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(It’s no surprise that we use BookingBug to help you book a demo!)
