Channel Shift

What is a Channel Shift?

Channel Shift is the process of moving (or shifting) users from non-digital channels to digital channels for accessing and interacting with services.

In general, this will be from a more expensive channel to a more efficient one.

The table here shows costs per transaction via different channels (3) showing a clear reduction in cost of shifting customers to an online channel.

Channel shift can bring the following benefits:

• Improved customer satisfaction

• Reduced costs

• Increased efficiency

The Argument For Channel Shift

‘Councils across the country face the reality that between 2010 and 2020 they will have lost 60% of the money Government had provided for services. Meanwhile, demand for services continues to increase from hard-pressed citizens. Finding operational efficiencies to enable continued service delivery with reduced budgets – and cope with reductions in headcount – has presented a significant challenge to councils (4)’

There is an inherent win-win on offer from developing online self-service offerings:

For users/customers:

• Convenience - access to services at any time and any place

• More personalised responses and accessibility options

• More control and choice over service options

For organisations:

• Significant reduction in costs and inefficiencies for service providers

• Save money on staff, infrastructure and administration

• Releasing capacity across the organisation

• Collect and analyse data more easily

• Accuracy in transaction processing through automated workflows

• Ability to innovate and adapt services more easily

What types of Services can be Delivered Online?

All manner of interactions between citizens and their Public Services can be shifted online. Examples might include:

• Waste recycling centre opening times

• What can be recycled there

• Permit or licence applications

• Bin collection days

• Fly tipping or dog fouling reporting

• Publishing statistics

• Publishing Information commonly requested under FOI

• Registering for elections

• Paying for services

These can be generalised into 3 broad content categories:

• General information pages and online forms

• Information that can be found by inputting an address

• Information that can be viewed or reported via an interactive map

How can addressing help?

Many services a Council offers are linked to, or could be linked to an address

This allows citizens the ability to search for their address using a postcode and an address look-up and return information specific to them and/or their property. These could include things such as:

• Sign up to additional services e.g. requesting green waste collection or special refuse collection

• Requesting special services for those with a medical condition or disability e.g. assisted bins service

• Reporting something e.g. a missed bin collection, flooding or a broken streetlight

• Requesting a permit or license

• Searching registers e.g. Planning applications/decisions and Building Control applications

• Making a payment e.g. Council Tax

How can mapping help?

Although addressing can be used for many interactions, there are many things that do not occur at an address, or an address is not the best way to describe its location. Examples might be:

• Fly tipping at the side of a dual carriageway or in a lay-by

• Dog fouling on a footpath

• Potholes

• Damaged Services

• Dangerous Trees

• Flooding

• Emergency incidents

In these situations, an excellent alternative is to present citizens with an interactive map, allow them to report the precise location with a pin and add additional details against this it.

This makes reporting easy for the customer as they do not need to associate with an address that may be some distance away and also registers the location of the issue accurately for incident management teams to locate.

Benefits of channel shift

Cost Savings:

• Reductions in costly face-to face and phone contact

• Reduced officer time spent in entering or re-keying data or correcting errors

• Reductions in print, postage and storage costs.

Efficiencies:

• Reduced officer time spent in entering or re-keying data or correcting errors

• Can form part of fully automated services

• Can be linked to staff task lists

• Accurately locate issues

• Reduce FOI Requests

Customer experience:

• Provides a convenient 24-7 service

• No need to travel to a physical location or make a call

• Faster personalised responses

• More control over their options

• Easily managed accessibility options

1. The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Oct 2009.

2. Local Government Information Unit, going where the eyeballs are, connecting councils with their communities

3. Channel Shift: Realising the Benefits - https://www.publicservicetransformation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/whitepaper-channelshift.pdf

4. 4.The Digital Channel Shift Programme. https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/channel-shift-final-evaluation-soep_1.pdf

This content has been developed from what was originally a Lightning Talk PowerPoint slide set. These slides are available to PSGA members to view and download from the PSGA members area of the OS website