Is the internet really the future for our customer services? (From The Argus)
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Is the internet really the future for our customer services?
11:29am Tuesday 21st February 2012 in Comment and Analysis By Tim Ridgway
Who do you turn to when you have a gripe or concern?
To a friend over a pint at the pub? To a family member on the phone?
Or do you, as millions of people are now doing, put it on a social media website for all to see?
Such has been the popularity of the internet and of sharing thoughts with other people online that councils and other public bodies see it as an integral part of interacting with their customers in the future.
It’s more personal, they say.
It’s a way of reaching people they do not normally reach, they add.
But, more importantly, it’s cheaper.
And in an age of austerity anything that will save on the purse strings has to be good, right?
Wrong.
In early February The Argus reported that it appears Brighton and Hove City Council has taken its eye off this simple customer service ball.
An internal report which reveals that 43% of calls about benefits are not answered is simply shocking.
Calls to libraries (19%), development control (30%) and council tax (35%) had similarly high rates of abandonment.
Sure, it is not clear how many of these calls were made out of hours when town hall offices were closed or no-one was around to pick them up.
The local authority said these figures are out-of-date and it has put things in place to improve them.
But it does raise questions about whether it should hold steadfast to its belief that people “prefer to self-serve and use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter” and that few wanted “face-to-face interaction”.
Speaking to experts it’s clear they do not mind about how queries and concerns are raised but what the outcome is.
Cheap interaction
While the city council will always give people the chance to call, they want to see if there are other, and more importantly cheaper, ways to interact.
Changes in its CityClean department, which looks after waste, parks and environmental health, to improve its website and be more available online have proved to be very successful.
But the problem is that other attempts to go elsewhere and explore new exciting options appear to show them forgetting the basics.
It’s easy to see what public bodies have been taken in by the lure of the internet.
Look around and we are constantly told how much it can change our lives.
For businesses it allows them to communicate a lot easier with each other.
For individuals it means there is a wealth of knowledge that we can access from our phones and laptops almost instantly.
It’s become the norm.
To adopt comedian Peter Kay’s catchline, it’s the future.
It’s for this reason that The Argus backed the campaign by politicians and firms to “Let Brighton Bid” for Government cash to install ultrafast broadband last month.
Yet even in Brighton and Hove, which is very proud of its image as a digital city, there are thousands of people who do not have home access to the internet.
Whether it is for financial reasons or simply because they do not see technology as essential to their lives, there will always be a need for face-to-face interaction.
Digital desert
Spread this out across Sussex and the percentage of the population of those in the “digital desert” gets even bigger.
Personally speaking, I am lucky enough to be living in the oasis of 21st century information.
I have superfast broadband, I have a Twitter account and I occasionally poke a friend on Facebook who I have not spoken to in a long time.
Most of the time it’s brilliant – never before have I felt closer to people and events.
A simple flick onto my Twitter page and I can see what celebs and footballers actually get up to when they’re not in the public eye.
But when it comes to personal issues, such as how much I owe in council tax or booking a doctor’s appointment, what can beat picking up the phone and speaking to a real person?
Not only do you know that you’re problem is being dealt with by a person rather than sitting in an electronic queue, but also it’s quite nice to interact with another human being.
When did saying “thank you” to a machine put a smile on your face or a spring in your step?
Despite the popular image, most of us do not use Facebook to post a warts and all account of our daily lives, from cleaning homes to family arguments or pictures of food we are about to eat.
Why should we give technology firms’ the information they want, which recently also includes the exact location of when you post these little gems of mundane living?
What happened to just living life?
Imagine how those people that want to talk confidentially about benefits claims or antisocial behaviour will feel if they are directed towards social media?
This is not a popularity contest, it is people’s lives.
Ultimately, even in the face of Government cuts, town hall staff should remember they are there to serve the public, not to bolster their Facebook friends
