Cherwell District Council has a good track record of enabling access to services. This is often achieved through the use and deployment of IT. A successful example of this is the creation of one-stop shops which use thin client technology. These one-stop shops are located throughout the region and offer members of the public access to a variety of Council services. Thin client technology enables staff to provide continuity of service to the public as data can be taken from one room to the next on a credentials card. This eliminates the need to ask customers to repeat any information already given. Thin client technology also provides enhanced security and is cheaper to purchase, run and maintain than traditional hardware.
To support the long term success of the one-stop shops, the Council ensured it had a robust IT infrastructure and support systems. This supported the introduction of telephony services around Voice over Internet Protocols (VOIP) and a comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. These systems were then converted to a thin client IT approach that allows a portable and responsive approach from staff to customers.
In a face to face customer contact situation, the thin client allows a conversation started at an open counter to move to a private room without losing any data or information already collected on screen. The adviser simply removes their ID card from the thin client and can insert it into another machine and the system resumes exactly as it was. Field Officers or Members can drop into local one-stop shops and use their credentials card to access their own systems.
The success of the thin client approach in customer services has resulted in its wide scale rollout during 2009/10.
Benefits already provided are:
- cheap and flexible business continuity provision - thin clients can be moved and installed very speedily
- increased resilience and longer life - there are no moving parts for physical breakdown
- reduced software maintenance and licensing costs - all software is held centrally
- increased data security - no data is held on the thin client
- reductions in electricity consumption - around 10 watts per unit compared with around 100 watts for a typical PC
- unit costs are less than £100 to buy compared to PCs, which can cost over three time that amount
As the CRM system is the hub of the Council's service delivery, customer service contact can be managed right through to the back office. The CRM is integrated into the main business systems and the payments system. This allows customer service advisers to complete the same service access forms with customers on the phone, in customer’s homes on visits or on one of the self service terminals in the one stop shops, village shops or libraries.
The Council website provides a gateway to information and contacts for around 90 per cent of the services it is asked about. Through a shared search facility this includes the services of other Oxfordshire authorities including the County Council, Primary Care Trust and other District Councils.
This single gateway of contacts ensures that the most vulnerable, who only have to access services on a face to face basis are not disadvantaged.