5 Ways Digital Transformation Impacts the Customer Experience

Digital transformation has made it possible for local government to provide customers with better access to services online. As technology evolves, we can expect to see even more enhancements in the way local authorities digitally interact with communities and enable better online service delivery.

We know digital transformation has many benefits including; reducing costs, improving efficiencies (both for the local authority and for the customer) and improving service delivery - but how is digital transformation affecting the overall customer experience?

Here are 5 ways digital transformation can impact the customer experience:

1. Digital Inclusion 

Accessibility is no longer negotiable. Accessibility compliance is now the law for any public authority, including local government. Many local authorities know that it’s more than the law - it’s about doing the right thing and creating an inclusive community. 

Providing inclusive digital services can significantly impact the community by enabling as many customers as possible to access important, and sometimes vital services and information online. Citizens have assistive technology, but it’s up to us to create accessible digital services to ensure that we don’t prevent this technology from working. No one should be left behind. 

Most of our local government customers now have digital inclusion at the forefront of their digital strategies. Rochdale Borough Council is focused on creating a digitally inclusive community, and recently launched a new accessible website that has seen an increase in customers accessing their services online, including payments, with over £7 million transactions, and over 35,000 forms submitted (a 23% increase from the previous year). 

The release of WCAG 2.2 makes further recommendations on how to improve accessibility to your community. 

2. Self-service

We know customers want to access digital services quickly and with ease. To meet demand, local authorities are reinventing the way they deliver digital services, through automation, integration and creating a sustainable ecosystem that drives innovation.

By redesigning workflows, integrating and automating technology and ensuring customer interactions are incorporated into the online experience, customers are able to seamlessly self-serve. But it’s important we get it right and continue to get it right as new technologies arise. The easier the customer’s experience is, the more likely they will come back and use digital as their contact channel of choice and in return, the council will see cost savings.

Read how Swindon Borough Council enables customers to effectively self-serve. Citizens can raise their own cases, access digital services and monitor their progress online, resulting in the council saving £30m over the course of three years.

3. Personalisation

Digital transformation has brought about significant changes in the way customers interact with their local council. Local authorities that are embracing digital technologies are better able to meet the needs of their customers and provide more personalised, convenient and efficient services.

Using Jadu’s MyAccount feature, Birmingham City Council is able to deliver more personalised services to its customers by giving the customer the ability to view what is relevant to them. This has been a huge success for the council, with over 500,000 monthly active users accessing the ‘BRUM’ account and over £167 million payments processed. The ‘BRUM account’ powers the website, forms, payments, Intranet and CRM at the council.

This enables customers to register for access to personalised information, including council tax, benefits, as well as housing, and crucially, the ability to track any service requests made to the council.

As well as this, local authorities can leverage customer data using website analytics in Jadu Central. This can be incredibly important for councils that want to further scale personalised experiences for their customers in the future, providing detailed insight to improve personalised digital services as technology continues to evolve.

4. Multi-channel flexibility

Multi-channel flexibility continues to have a significant impact on customer experience in local government as the technology landscape continues to change. 

By providing multiple digital touchpoints and allowing customers to switch between channels effortlessly, local authorities can provide a more personalised and convenient experience, that’s tailored to the customers. This leads to increased customer satisfaction, engagement, and the likelihood to enter the channel again - preventing them from using expensive channels such as calling the contact centre. Broxbourne Borough Council saw a 69% increase in digital service uptake when they rolled out the full Jadu Digital Platform (Jadu websites, content and CRM), including a 117% increase in over-65s using its online services. 

Additionally, by offering multiple channels for customers to access council services, local authorities can increase their responsiveness and agility. For example, customers can use their mobile to report a problem, such as a pothole, and track its resolution online - without having to visit another channel. This not only provides customers with a convenient and fast way to report issues but also demonstrates local authorities' commitment to transparency and accountability.

Suraj Kika, CEO at Jadu explains in a recent podcast with TechUK, “Imagine if Amazon had a contact centre to process all of their orders? It would be unconscionable, it wouldn’t scale... and the business just wouldn’t work”.

5. Automation 

Public sector automation is more than reducing operational costs (as important as that is). Automation is improving services, reducing the cost to serve and providing a deeper community connection, as our latest Whitepaper explains in more detail.

Automation and modernisation of the public sector are necessary to meet changing customer expectations, bridge funding gaps and revitalise communities ravaged by the pandemic lockdowns.

Providing automated digital services enables an end-to-end, seamless digital customer experience for your customers, and frees up team members to focus more on important tasks or services that customers require. 

Wigan Council is transforming how digital services are delivered as part of its strategy ‘The Deal’ and as part of this approach, has adopted Jadu’s low-code digital platform. They integrated the Jadu Digital Platform with their legacy Highways system - and for the Highways service alone are now saving £100,000 per year based on approximately 15,000 enquiries (savings of £6.40 per inquiry). Previously, the council's service team used two different back-office systems to update customers, which led to a lack of transparency and often resulted in confusion for customers. The council is nominated for an Innovative Award based on this project. 

Learn more about how to transform your customers’ digital experience with a more efficient, accessible and connected local government.