Context – local government reform
The government’s localism and open public services agenda will bring about profound changes in how councils operate. The government states that open public services will profoundly change the future roles of both central and local government.
An Open Public Services topic page is available on Sandwell Trends.
Alongside the localism agenda sits the Local Government Finance Review.
A Local Government Finance topic page is available on Sandwell Trends.
How we respond to these changes
Responding to the challenges that these changes present means more than just doing ‘more for less’. It means redesigning our services with the fewer resources we have at our disposal. This makes it more important than ever for us to understand our customers better so that we use the resources we have in providing the right services in the right way
This goes further than just understanding need – in order to improve the quality of life of our residents we also need to understand their aspirations and help them to achieve their ambitions. This also involves having a keen sense of Sandwell’s business and skills needs.
The importance of customer intelligence
It is vital for council residents to receive good information about services, have trust in the organisation they are dealing with, and feel that its decision making process is both fair and in their interests.
That’s why sixteen roadshows were organised across the borough, and 6,296 residents were asked about their satisfaction with a range of council services.
As a customer service organisation, a thorough understanding of our customers needs to be central to planning our business. This understanding of the people who need and use our services is a characteristic of an excellent council that continues to learn.
At this time of significant resource constraint, knowing what our customers’ needs and aspirations are is even more important in helping us to make the right spending decisions.
Good customer intelligence will also drive the delivery of the Sandwell Scorecard and be the means by which we measure our performance. We must understand the make up of our communities in order to ensure fair access and opportunity and monitor the impact of our spending decisions.