Weymouth and Portland Borough Council wanted to make access to services and information easier for its residents; the goal was a one-stop contact centre.

‘It was really about improving service to our residents,’ says Peter Gilmour, information services manager at the council.

A lot of the requirements were of a technical nature, such as a new telephony system, a customer relationship management system and a document management application. IT installation, however, was not the biggest challenge. ‘The real key is the cultural change inside the organisation,’ says Gilmour.

When you change people’s way of working, they often see it as a criticism of their work – and there can be a reluctance to transform. ‘You need strong leadership,’ says Gilmour. ‘Once you’ve taken the decision that that’s the route you will take, you need to make it clear. People will give you any number of reasons for not making that change and without strong leadership you will not move forward.’

Communication was another key to the council’s success, says Gilmour. ‘One of the important things we have recognised is that rumour travels faster than fact. It is important that everyone you want to receive information, receives the same information at the same time,’ he says.

Gilmour says another important point is that the council has celebrated successful milestones. ‘Change can be seen as quite a negative experience to lots of people,’ he says. ‘People are often uncomfortable with change. They find it threatening.

‘We found that by celebrating the milestones, people started to see change as a positive experience and they could see that they were moving closer to a better stage. It is maintaining that momentum and the positive approach that is really important.’

As a result of the project, an average of 74 per cent of citizens’ enquiries are now dealt with at the first point of contact. Weymouth and Portland’s target is 80 per cent. For waste management, 98 per cent of enquiries are dealt with at the first point – and for benefits enquiries, the total is 92 per cent.

The council has also saved approximately £75,000 by being able to free up staff time and it has also increased its opening hours.

Most importantly, employees have realised the importance of new systems and processes and have been won over by the benefits they offer.