Download - A5 rita booth
Improving Services to BusinessesImproving Services to BusinessesLocal Government Group conference:
using customer insight to understand complex issues
Thursday 10 March 2011
Rita Booth
Strategic Director Lichfield District Council
West Midlands Business Matters Project Lead
Why this work is important ………
Business Matters Project
A partnership of authorities in the West Midlands including Lichfield, Dudley, Solihull Sandwell, Birmingham and Business Link who share a passion to improve services to businesses
Started off focused on how we get a single view of the business - taking account of complexities of multiple locations, facets and owners
Developed standards for identifying and sharing information around business including looking at how to use Government Connect for sharing data securely
Also in receipt of funding from CLG Transformation Fund, managed by the LGID, to better understand the customer experience of businesses
Business support, enforcement and inspection services, licensing, business rates, planning and building control requirements….do we really have a comprehensive view of how we interact with businesses as a whole and what they actually need from us?
Customers Needs ServicesOrganisation
(local authority)
have satisfied by delivered by
Developing Customer Insight…….
Driving Service Improvement by Understanding Customer Need
Businesses are more complex in terms of multiplicity of locations, facets and contacts
Also the level of churn – as much as 20% in a year
EnvironmentalServices
Jones & Son1 High Street
Trading Standards
R Jones & SonNo 1 High St
Planning
R J JonesHigh St B96
Licensing
PROSECUTIONPENDING !!
Jones LtdOne High St
Economic Development and Business Link Supporting Mr Jones!Fire & Rescue need specific addressing for emergency call out
and for planned inspections
We know how to segment citizens….
But how do we segment businesses?
Segmentation Framework
Small Local Employer
Small Local Employer
Medium Local
Employer
Medium Local
Employer
Business at Home
Business at Home
Major Local Employer
Major Local Employer
Large National
Company
Large National
Company
Medium Subsidiary
Medium Subsidiary
Large International
Company
Large International
Company
Medium chain with multiple West Mids sites
Medium chain with multiple West Mids sites
Large Chain with few
West Mids sites
Large Chain with few
West Mids sites
Large Chain with many
West Mids sites
Large Chain with many
West Mids sites
Medium Chain with one West Mids site
Medium Chain with one West Mids site
Small ChainSmall Chain
Medium LargeSmall Medium LargeSmall
Firms with a direct stake in
West Mids
Public\Third Sector
Public\Third Sector
Head Office in West Mids
Head Office outside
West Mids
NNDR
Building Control
Head office
Segment group
Name
Property ID (LLPG)
AddressRegulations
Turnover
Postcode
SectorSize
Key issue is lack of data…… we start a long way back compared with the citizen
.
•Segmentation requires a high amount of data integrity
•Much data that is bought in is not shared across the authority
•Lots of data held by organisations like ONS is not visible to local authorities
•Segmentation will depend on application – regulatory services needs will be different to business support
Life Stage(demographics)
What we Need to Know ??
Segmentation is only part of the picture – understanding the life stage is crucial for targeting services
Helps understand if a business is succeeding of failing – growing or declining
Again needs high level of data integrity else looking at out of date picture
Lack of information for small businesses who may not have filed accounts Of crucial interest to the Local
Enterprise Partnerships
What is the Business Customer Experience ??
Consultation with Businesses…
Surveyed businesses less than 2 years old areas
Went across all sectorsMatching the business data –
no complete list existedCarried out structured survey to
find out the customer experience - looking for 300 businesses to respond
Followed up with focus groupAlso took learning from a
localised survey carried out by a Business Enterprise Partnership covering 2 Districts
Difficulty in finding out who were ‘new businesses’
On-line survey had abysmal response Specialist tele-survey group bought in
had excellent response Difficult to get people to join focus
groups without an incentive Local authority services not visible –
particularly to business start-ups Council ‘front-end’ not inviting to
businesses Different offers across the public sector
are not clear to businesses - we can be seen in ‘competition’
Specific mention of poor information on business rates
What next? Development of LEP’s has created much interest in our work and
taking this work forward is part of the Greater Birmingham LEP submission
Local Better Regulation Office has agreed to sponsor some work with us on how we target businesses for regulation using insight, and how we could develop closer links between business support and regulatory advice
Business Link West Midlands going end of March – looking at secondment from them into the local authority to work on how we take forward data-sharing
Writing guide to business and economic intelligence based on our project for West Midlands IEP
In discussion with businesslink. gov regarding how we can share our learning as they aim to become the point of online contact for all business enquiries – will become a syndication pilot
Interest in this area of work continues to grow……………