Issue 9 | April 2007

Lyons Inquiry calls for Local Authorities to 'engage more effectively with local people'

The Customer First Standard provides a practical solution for Local Authorities wanting to improve customer satisfaction, choice and flexibility, in line with the findings of the Lyons Inquiry published at the end of March.

Customer First UK chief executive, Keith Ramsay, comments: “Any organisation serious about winning and keeping customers should regularly assess its processes and procedures against a nationally recognised Standard such as Putting the Customer First ^®.

“Regardless of which sector an organisation works in, customer service has to be at the heart of it to ensure that customers' needs are met, that they get value for money and, ultimately, continue to use the services. The Customer First Standard ensures that organisations take time to focus on all aspects of their customer service delivery and make the necessary improvements.”

One Local Council that has seen the benefits of implementing the Customer First Standard is Bexley Council's Business Investment and Retention Team.

Bexley Council's economic development officer, Chris Tomlins said: “Customer First has made a significant difference to the way we operate, and has given us a tool to demonstrate just how important our customers are to us. It has helped us work through where our strengths and weaknesses lie in this area - we now understand our customers much better.”

A further conclusion of the Lyons Inquiry is that Local Authorities need to work towards a more devolved and ambitious future. Again, the Customer First Standard can help them by allowing them time to focus on long-term strategic priorities and put plans in place for the next 5, 10, 20 and even 30 years time.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Business Service team needed to make sure its customers got the same excellent standard of customer service from all its offices so turned to Customer First UK to ensure consistency across its diverse mix of rural and urban offices, across five key market towns. On achieving the Standard, they were able to implement a unique client management system for tracking customer journeys and identified areas of development to ensure that they deliver consistent services across all its business centres.

Keith Ramsay concludes: “The Customer First Standard provides a solution that can be implemented quite quickly, while providing the Local Authorities with long term solutions to continuously improving satisfaction, choice and flexibility of their services to customers. The Customer First Standard is a practical approach available to Local Authorities that really focuses them on developing customer-focused cultures. It's now up to individual organisations to decide whether to implement and act upon the guidelines put forward in the Lyons Inquiry.”

To find out more about the Lyons Inquiry visit www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk

Photo: Keith Ramsay, Chief Executive, Customer First UK, presenting the Bexley Team with their Customer First certificate.

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