Last week UK government body HMRC said that it would spend an additional £45m to improve customer service for taxpayers. The money will be used to employ 3,000 more customer-facing staff, with a further 2,000 existing employees moved temporarily to help with the forthcoming tax credits deadline. The investment follows figures which showed that over a quarter (27.5%) ...
Customer service is critical for organisations across every industry. Consumers are now demanding the same high levels of service, whatever type of company they are dealing with. This means that they expect a utility or bank to provide a similar experience to a retailer – and are not shy at complaining if they don’t receive the service they want.This equally applies to the public secto...
Tickets for the 2014 Commonwealth Games have just gone on sale, and organisers are reporting high demand. The 11 day games, which begin on 23 July 2014, will see 4,500 athletes from across the world compete in 17 sports across 14 venues in Glasgow. Given the overwhelming triumph of the London 2012 Olympics, Glasgow will be hoping for a similar success story, boosting the Scottish economy and inspi...
Today, the public sector currently faces two major challenges. At a time of major pressure on budgets, the need to decrease costs and increase efficiency is paramount, whether your organisation is operating in central or local government or within the health or emergency services.Additionally, citizens and patients now want to contact the public sector through more and more digital channels. Wheth...
The UK is currently suffering its wettest winter since records began. Huge tracts of land are already under water, notably in the Somerset Levels, and the Thames has now flooded in Berkshire and Surrey. The main rail line between Devon and Cornwall has been swept away and thousands of cars have been damaged by being driven through floods across the UK. No matter where you are, this persistent incl...
Citizens today are increasingly embracing digital channels, such as the web, email and social media. Led by central government and its Digital by Default agenda, the public sector is therefore changing how it communicates to match the needs of citizens, patients and other audiences. More and more services can now be completed online, from renewing a tax disc to registering children for school.Digi...
Delivering a compelling customer experience to people paying income tax is always going to be difficult. The combination of complex forms and cost mean that many consumers rate the experience as marginally better, but financially more painful, than having a tooth removed.For HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK, the scale of its operations also provides a logistical challenge. In the 2011/12 fi...
Eptica and NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA), have won the Most Effective Use of Self Service category at the prestigious 2012 Customer Contact Association (CCA) Excellence Awards. NHS BSA has seen training time for new agents drop by 30% and first year savings of £121,000 since its Eptica-powered self-service knowledge management technology project called Sherlock went live.Sherlock...
The devastation brought by Superstorm Sandy to the North East United States has impacted huge numbers of people. As well as loss of life, millions have been without power and hundreds of thousands more have had to evacuate their homes and abandon their possessions. And as previous natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, have shown, cleaning up the aftermath and getting life back to norm...
In the current economic climate, the public sector, like all industries, needs to increase efficiency so that it can operate within tighter budgets. But what is vital is that all citizens still receive a high quality customer service that meets their specific needs.The positive news is that technology has the power to deliver this combination of efficiency and good service. As the population switc...