customer services
Smart Cities Pilot - Improving services - Creating an entrepreneurial front office - Groningen
Groningen want to improve how it provides services to entrepreneurs. They want to provide more information online, and to help start-ups (via the internet) and help them set up their businesses.
Groningen want to improve how it provides services to entrepreneurs, and to better implement the European Directive on Services. We want to stimulate the use of the internet on general information. We want to approach starters (via the internet channel) and help them set up their businesses.
Approach:
- Implementing EU-directive on services.
- Implementing and using the management information to follow and steer the expected output of employees.
- Implementing the vision and communicate to the different target groups.
- Participate on the system of standards of businesses.
Output: more (fully digitalized) e-forms. This will also stimulate the further use of web-services.The EU Services Directive aims to break down barriers to cross border trade in services between countries in the EU. It will make it easier for service providers, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, to offer their services to customers in other EU countries.
Processes: making use of a hands-on CRM system and making good using of existing management information within the organisation
Our services to entrepreneurs must be improved. We want to stimulate the use of the internet on general information. We want to approach starters (via the internet channel) and help them set up their businesses. We wish to make use of account managers and establishing a specific target group approach for entrepreneurs. We offer specific service-arrangements (a full arrangement which varies from subsidies to counselling). We want to stimulate employment within city and region. And to improve the economic climate.
Performance benefits
- Benchmark GSB (=Grote Steden Beleid).
- Local customer satisfaction investigation.
Employee benefits
- active approach, 600 company visits will me made each year
- more responsibility and flexibility
Financial benefits
- More effective use of personnel / no financial records available
Project benefits
- Forcing yourself to systematically think about your approach to the target groups. Really bettering the services and improving the economy.
Smart Cities Pilot - Developing Customer Contact Centres - Groningen
Groningen's Customer Contact Centre pilot will ensure that citizens get better and uniform answers to questions no matter what channel they use to contact the municipality (e.g. face to face, telephone, mail, chat, letter).
Groningen has established a new vision on customer services for 2014 and is currently working on several projects to enhance the quality of their different contact centres. These will ensure:
Approach
- Local pilot of 100 FAQ’s on the website and expanding the list. Also organizing content management of these FAQ’s.
- Implementing service level manifest for all channels
- Redesign of municipal website
- Issue a publication on transnational municipal service provision, both in print and digitally.
Deliverables
- FAQ-list usable by the partners
- Service level manifest
- New website
- Publication as booklet and on epractice.eu website:
Groningen has established a new vision on customer services towards 2014 and is currently working on several projects to enhance the quality of the different contact centres. Several Smart Cities partners are doing similar activities. Especially the aspect of ‘products and service channels’ and ‘systems and information’ are suitable for cooperation on a transnational level. Although exchanging experience with and knowledge of management of the organisational change required (leadership and employees) is also considered very relevant.
Performance benefits
- Faster handling of customer contacts via different channels
- Reduction of number and type of contacts (ability to avoid questions)
- More digital customer services
Employee benefits
- Higher FO employee satisfaction
- Improved skills, higher flexibility
- on EU level: more knowledge of methodology/approach
Financial benefits
- More effective use of personnel
- Lower costs because customers use the website more for transactions
Project benefits
- Enhancing multichannel approach and question-centred approach of customer contacts
Osterholz-Scharmbeck
The city of Osterholz-Scharmbeck has more than 30,000 inhabitants and is the county seat of the county of Osterholz. It is one of the smallest counties in Lower Saxony, and is located to the north of the German state of Bremen. The local environment and unspoiled landscapes provides a high potential for recreation and tourism, e.g.
Smart Cities partners set out how they will make a guide to Customer Contact Centres for municipalities
Partners from the Smart Cities project met in Edinburgh on March 2nd and 3rd to review progress in developing customer contact centres in their municipalities, and to plan the production of a guide to customer contact centres for municipalities.
Customer services
Work package 3 – Customer Services and Service Platform
(leaders City of Kristiansand and the City of Kortrijk).
Kortrijk region
Leiedal is a regional public body representing thirteen municipalities in the Kortrijk region. This region is situated in the south of Flanders, close to the French metropolitan region of Lille. The region has 296,447 inhabitants, 8,920 companies (mainly SMEs) and over 3,200 ha of business parks.
Norfolk County
Norfolk County Council is the top tier local authority for the largely rural county of Norfolk in the East of England. The county has a population of more than 800,000 based in the three main urban centres of Norwich, Great Yarmouth, and Kings Lynn, with a spread of market towns, villages and very small communities which are a challenge to deliver services to.
Kristiansand
The cities of Kristiansand and Lillesand are neighbouring municipalities in the south of Norway who are working together in the Smart Cities project. Kristiansand has 80,000 inhabitants, while Lillesand has 9,000. Both face the North Sea and support a mixture of electro-metallurgical processing, oil-related industries, and trade and tourism.
Kortrijk
![loketvoorondernemers_leiestraat[1].jpg](http://www.smartcities.info/files/images/loketvoorondernemers_leiestraat[1].thumbnail.jpg "loketvoorondernemers_leiestraat[1].jpg")
The city of Kortrijk has a population of 75,000, and is in the south of the Belgian province of West-Flanders on the Leie River. It is 25 kilometres north-east of the French city of Lille and 42 km southwest of Ghent. Kortrijk, Lille and the Belgian city of Tournai make up the transnational Eurodistrict of Rijsel-Kortrijk-Doornik, which has a population of approximately 1,900,000.
Karlstad
Karlstad is located near the Klara älv River on the northern shore of Lake Vänern, halfway between Stockholm and Oslo. Karlstad is one of 16 municipalities in the Värmland region, and is one of Sweden's 20 largest municipalities with 84,000 inhabitants. Karlstad has one of Sweden's most modern universities with 10,000 students.
