Many in the Public Service Sector still believe that providing best-in-class Customer Service always increases the costs of Service Delivery. This attitude results in attempts to offer minimal Customer Service, and trying to get away with it, by convincing elected officials that improved Customer Service will mean cuts in Services.  

The hope is that the electorate will swallow this argument and learn to accept the status quo.

But consider being able to:

• – Give your Constituents automatic feedback on all of their requests, problem reports, suggestions and opinions.

• – Deliver a pothole report complete with an up-to-the-minute photo of the offending hazard directly and instantly to the Foreman in charge of the Crew that’s out repairing potholes so that he/she can prioritize it immediately based on location and severity. Lower liability claims.

• – Capture all the necessary information for a resident to submit a committee-of-adjustment minor zoning variance request, without requiring an in-office meeting, and with each internal process step automatically initiated and tracked, to ensure smooth interdepartmental cooperation.

• – Group all 22 complaints about derelict vehicles accumulating on the weed-infested corner lot, complete with lots of date-stamped visual evidence, as a single issue, and auto-inform all complainants as it wends its way through the by-law enforcement process.

• – Automatically redirect service requests to other Service Providers, as required, with no manual intervention, phone calls and emails, while keeping the connection between the service requester and the responsible Staff person at the right Organization.

• – Establish business processes that treat internal and externally sourced service requests consistently so that Staff really feel, and know, they are not wasting their time with trivial repetitive tasks.

• – Continuously monitor Departmental performance, including service level compliance and Staff efficiency, to evolve better processes, and raise professional standards. Publish summaries for Council.

This is just a small subset of the Customer Service processes that Pelham has completely overhauled, using their new web based system. Each one shortens response times, eliminates unnecessary or repetitive steps, reduces liability, greatly improves Customer Satisfaction, raises Staff career satisfaction, and reduces service delivery costs across the board. The result is containment of tax increases, expanded economic development potential, with proud elected officials.

The Town of Pelham, in the Niagara Region, close to Niagara Falls, adopted an aggressive approach to Customer Service, Tax Containment about three years ago, and boasts the lowest rate of property tax and water rate increases (zero last year) in the entire Region.  See more details here.