Productivity Plan

As part of the Powering Our Future Programme, we have identified a set of design principles which act as 'guard rails' for the way we work and will be embedded across all activity.

These include:

• having efficient processes and being digital by design
• using data and intelligence to inform our decisions

The design principles build on the significant progress we have made as a Council through the smarter use of technology, including:

• development of the Council's website and a range of online solutions as a means for residents to self-serve, track progress and communicate with the Council, improving accessibility and reducing telephone waiting times
• implementation of an omnichannel contact centre and single CRM with a customer account, joining up records of customer interactions both online and with the contact centre, this provides a history of transactions along with progress tracking for customers and for contact centre staff
• a digital programme including a redesign of the Council's website and information directory, an extensive range of online digital services and the implementation of MS 365 productivity toolkit to improve working practices, successful adoption of digital solutions has been supported through training for staff and digital assistance for customers
• the Council's street cleansing and street scene service have introduced smart phones to eliminate the use of paper, becoming more efficient and responsive
• significant automation in revenues and benefits, including customer self service
• replacement of all major systems within adults and children's social care, providing greater automation and stable platforms to develop further digital solutions
• development of a waste bot and an online booking system for our household waste recycling centre, this improved the customer experience by avoiding long queues at the centre
• introduction of a system giving residents live information on refuse collection reducing the number of queries via telephone into customer services
• moving towards cashless systems, for example the introduction of RingGo for car parking payment

Looking ahead

Our transformation programme includes a Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) project. This will explore opportunities to strengthen the Council's position and recognise DDaT as strategic assets to support service performance and to enable the design and delivery of high-quality, efficient and effective services. This will involve designing services to maximise the digital technologies to ensure processes are automated as far as practically possible, and using technology to ensure officers are working in the most efficient manner.

This will enable the following:

• transforming the way we work as a Council
• transforming how our services work for residents
• supporting business and employment growth
• supporting community development