South Gloucestershire Council selects Civica to build digital customer platform

Council wants platform to improve user experience and provide cost and efficiency savings

South Gloucestershire Council has selected public sector IT services provider Civica's digital arm to help build a digital customer platform, that aims to improve user experience for residents and produce cost and efficiency savings.

The council is hoping to build a platform that enables residents to report issues quickly and carry out routine transactions online, as well as being kept up-to-date about progress with their requests. It is also anticipated that the new platform will help customer service employees as they'll be able to get better access to data.

The platform forms part of the council's wider digital transformation efforts, and it has been designed after getting feedback from residents and employees about their priorities through a number of focus groups.

Councillor Matthew Riddle, leader of South Gloucestershire Council, said that the idea behind the new portal is to reflect how citizens use a number of other services today.

"We use our mobile phones, tablets or home computers to order a weekly shop or renew our vehicle tax online, so it makes sense that people are also able to interact with council services at times and in ways which are convenient for them.

"Ensuring that our services are accessible and customer-centric is something we're passionate about improving for the benefit of all residents in South Gloucestershire," he said.

"As we embark on our digital journey, we of course recognise that not everyone is digitally orientated, nor does everyone have direct access to a computer or mobile and we will ensure their needs continue to be catered for by providing options to complete transactions either offline or through advocates," he added.

Once the initial customer platform is implemented, Civica Digital will explore how the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and predictive analytics can further improve future services and better manage resident demand.

Last year, Civica was acquired by Partners Group, a Swiss investment firm, for £1bn. The company has been passed from pillar to post since it was offloaded by Sanderson in 2004 in a £79m public share offering.