Wokingham Borough Council

"It is very important at Wokingham Council to understand how we are doing. We are a new contact centre and as such see mystery shopping as a great mechanism in order to measure our performance and to give us guidance on where we need to focus our attention over the coming year" It also gives us a great benchmark against both the public & private sectors, something which we be invaluable to developing our services moving forward."

- Andy Ralphs, Programme Manager -Customer First, Wokingham Borough Council

In January 2009 Wokingham Borough Council launched Wokingham Direct@Wokingham Borough Council their brand new, purpose-built customer service centre, dedicated to putting customers first by making it easier and more convenient to get in touch. Based at the Council’s civic offices in Wokingham, it aims to deliver a service to all our Customers that is more convenient and fits in with individual’s lifestyle. The contact centre is open from 8am to 6pm Mon- Fri and is dealing with emails, sms, web chats, phone calls, faxes and letters that specifically relate to waste and recycling, highways, grounds maintenance, concessionary fares and tenant services. It is also handling general switchboard enquiries. Over the coming 12 to 18 months, other services will be added gradually until the centre is able to deal with all enquiries.

National Research indicates that some 80 per cent of calls to councils are of a routine nature and can be dealt with at the first point of contact rather than the current practice of re-routing calls to another member of staff. Each member of the service centre staff will have solutions for many frequently asked questions. This will help resolve enquiries and get services delivered as soon as possible.

As well as answering customer queries first time round in four out of five cases, Wokingham Direct will help improve overall customer satisfaction by giving customers choice in the way and the times that they are able to access services. Our Chief Executive Susan Law says "All in all, these developments will increase customer choice and satisfaction as well as help the Council to be more efficient,"