INFORMATION ITEM No: 6
Date:
2nd May 2017
Subject: Customer Strategy 2016-17 Review
Author: Shaun Haden
Business Improvement Project Manager
PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE
SUTTON HOUSING PARTNERSHIP
Purpose of the Report
To review the delivery of outputs and outcomes from SHP’s Customer
Strategy in 2016-17 (Year 1)
Executive Summary
The outputs and outcomes from the year one actions of the Customer
Strategy have laid the foundations for achieving its long term aims.
We have completed 88% of year one actions contributing to:
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73.8% of tenants were satisfied with their last enquiry
87.5% of customers were satisfied with the outcome of their complaint
– up from 61% in 2015-16
97.2% of customers were satisfied with the way their ASB complaint
was handled - up from 85% in 2015-16.
1. Background
1.1. Our Customer Strategy for 2016-21 set out our shared
vision of excellent customer service, and outlined how we will
deliver it.
The purpose of the strategy was to:
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Meet the diverse needs of different customer groups
Market the range of services we provide more effectively
Allocate resources more efficiently and effectively
Meet the expectations of customers
Change behaviours of customers and staff to lower costs and
improve performance
Enhance customer service and improve customer satisfaction
1.2. The strategy set out five strategic objectives along five key
business themes:
Insight - Knowing our customers and increasingly using insight to
deliver targeted services that meet the diverse needs of the whole
community
Channels and Access - A flexible, multi-channel, digital approach
enabling customers to contact us how they want,
when they
want, increasing self-service and 24/7 access.
Quality and Delivery - Customers receive the services they
need, when they need them, at the first attempt, quickly and
easily
Culture and Behaviour - Create an environment that
respects
individual customer needs, meets expectations, and develops
positive relationships that build cohesive communities
Satisfaction - Delivering record levels of customer
across all services
satisfaction
2. Approach
2.1. Twenty two actions were identified to be delivered in 2016-17
across all five themes.
2.2. Responsibility for completing these actions was assigned to
respective service areas
3. Performance
3.1. Overall 88% of the actions for 2016-17 have been completed.
The table below shows this progress by theme.
Insight
100%
Channels and Access
80%
Quality and Delivery
91%
Culture and Behaviour
70%
Satisfaction
3.2. Of the twenty two actions to be completed in 2016-17
17 are 100% complete
3 actions are more than 50% complete
2 actions are 50% or less complete.
100%
4. What outputs have been produced?
(Appendix 1)
4.1. The tangible changes and outputs from completed actions
include:
Insight
 Produced an analysis and baseline report of all customer profile,
contact data and communication preference data held on our
systems
 Conducted a process review and report on the capture, storage
and sharing of customer data across systems
 Delivered all outstanding actions from Complaints Improvement
Project
 Created a lessons learned process from complaints to drive
service improvements
Channels and Access
 Identified a list of transactions suitable for channel shift
 Developed a new customer profiling form capturing channel
preferences
Quality and Delivery
 Completed a series of Lean reviews to improve the effectiveness
and effortlessness of customer service
 Mapped the customer journey for key transactions and services
 Benchmarked and refreshed customers service standards
 Developed new strategic partnerships leading to new business
 Provided customer service training to all investigating managers
on resolving complaints
Culture and Behaviour
 Commissioned an audit of our customer service culture
 Delivered ‘Unconscious bias’ training to all managers
Satisfaction
 Refreshed our approach to resident scrutiny and involvement
(stage one)
 Remodelled our satisfaction survey service outsourcing delivery
of annual resident survey and repairs satisfaction surveys
 Conducted an analysis of inequality in satisfaction to identify
areas of focus for relevant community groups
 Completed a Self-Assessment of SHP against Equality
Framework for Social Housing including identified gaps in the
Equality and Diversity strategy
5. What is outstanding?
5.1. There remain a number of actions which are at varying levels
of completion. These will be carried over into 2017-18 and will
be completed by the end of quarter one:
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Ensure a consistent approach to collection and management of
channel preferences on systems is in place across all services.
Establish method of demonstrating outcomes from community
investment initiatives (e.g. social value)
Develop and embedded a consistent approach to the delivery of
customer services through our policies and procedures
Embed a customer service culture within our recruitment policies
and procedures
Deliver customer service training to all staff ensuring consistency
of approach
6. Outcomes for customers and SHP’s commercial viability
6.1. The outputs from actions from the customer strategy have led
to positive outcomes for customers. These include
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Answering 98.5% of all calls from residents in an average
10.8 seconds - against the Council’s target of 20
Improving how quickly we respond to emails from residents. In
January 2017, we answered 100% within timescale for the first
time since May 2012
Ensuring that 87.5% of customers were satisfied with the
outcome of their complaint – compared to just 61% last year
Realising over £450k worth of savings in officer time over the
next five years by applying Lean methods to process
improvement for key frontline services.
Satisfying 97.2% of customers with the way their ASB complaint
was handled
Meeting all three customer satisfaction targets with the quality of
their external services
In the coming year we’ll save over £5,000 of officer time which
had been spent on administering the survey process. This time
can now be spent on identifying the service improvements our
residents would like to see.
Begun segmenting our customers for key services, including
income and customer service
7. Close – Next Steps
7.1. Actions planned for 2017-18 and those outstanding actions will
continue to be reported on Covalent and at regular intervals
through the years.
7.2. This summary report will be replicated at the end of 2017-18.