This paper describes examples of introducing Mobile Working in Local Authorities, from receiving a customer call through to invoicing for the service.  It draws from ValueAdding.com’s experiences in this subject, both from clients and best practice, to illustrate some of the issues and challenges to be overcome.

ValueAdding.com has found there is no single solution.  The range and variety of different services that Local Authorities deliver means that best practice for one service can be bad practice for another.  Installing one idea may not work unless the whole process is re-aligned to deal with the consequences.

Using new technology, and its integration, will be costly and challenging.  But solving these problems is relatively straight forward once the task is clearly defined.  The bigger challenge is:

• Agreeing what the new process should be for each service

• Ensuring that it is an improvement over the original

• Implementing the changes and keeping the staff with you

• Optimising the service and meeting changing customer expectations

With the correct process in place, the benefits can quickly repay the investment.

A task for a mobile worker will pass through the following sub processes:

Customer Service Centre (CSC)

CSC receives requests and gathers sufficient information to task the mobile worker: 

• Diagnosing the problem at first call reduces the downstream variables and increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the mobile worker.  CSC agents will deal infrequently with each service type and this impairs their knowledge depth development and diagnostic skills.

• One approach is to maximise the diagnostic step by either training and/or specialist software.  Another is to avoid diagnosis and book an appointment with the expert.

• Not every call requires the same information to be collected.  Caller ID is not necessary when reporting Graffiti: location, size and medium is more important to the Mobile Worker (the Cleaner). The CRM software must collect and transfer the right information.

Workflow

This is the passing of information from the CSC to the Operational Department: 

• How will the operations be tasked? Real-time, hourly or daily.  How will urgent task be alerted?

• Do we need workflow software or system integration or could CRM be distributed into the departments?

Scheduling

Scheduling is the optimising of the work load and allocating tasks to individual staff:

• Scheduling a meeting with a customer is arguably best performed during the first call and should therefore reside within the CSC.

• However scheduling complexity increases with number of tasks, variety of task type, number of mobile staff, skill, availability and capability mix, geographic restrictions and other factors.  This information is gathered and managed in the back office.

• Complex scheduling can be achieved using specialist software which bridges this gap.

Mobile computing

This device receives the work instruction and returns the task completion notification:

• Select the suitable device for the job.  Robust PDAs, Mobile phones, Laptops all have this capability.  Consider the skill level of the operative and their working environment. Will they need to read the address when driving between appointments?

• Real time or batch update?  One way or two way?

• GPS, cameras, panic buttons, integrated phone and SMS can all add process functionality (consider the cost-benefit of managing the photo albums before introducing digital records).

Back-office Operations

The department responsible for the service will manage the execution of the task with many sub-processes and support systems.  Many of these may need to integrate with the Mobile device to deliver significant benefit:

• Inventory to ensure material is available at the time required.

• Purchasing – for the same reasons.

• Human resources – diaries, skills, holidays, payroll

• Accounts for invoicing and possible cross charging for work performed.

• Closing the task and updating the CRM system.

Implementing these raises more change management issues than technical.  Will staff accept centralised diaries?

What service improvements are actually being sought? Have these been agreed between the Senior Management, Operations and the CSC - as misunderstanding and different objectives leads to a poorer customer experience.  The following are real examples: 

• Lack of real agreement has seen back-office refusing to co-operate with the “higher paid” CSC.  Some departments are re-instigating their own telephone staff to meet their service objectives.

• Diagnosing Housing Repair problems is difficult to perfect.  Some CSC’s use specialist software while others simply organise an inspection visit and remove all the variables.  The costs are higher and the completion time for repairs can be longer.  But the Tenants are happy.

• Benefit claims can be supported by telephone calls but putting the expert with the customer in the first place is proving to reduce overall claim times. From 70 to 28 days for office based experts, to 1 day when home appointments are used. 

• Replacing the back-office system with a distributed CRM system has removed the need for integration, workflow and dual system maintenance for Crime & Disorder Reporting in one Authority.

• Where complex back office databases have developed, such as in Education or Social Services the amount of processing that the CSC can perform may be limited.  The added costs and delays may outweigh the benefits for everything but the simplest of tasks.

• Defining the best scheduling parameters can be difficult. Piloting different approaches in one London Authority disproved the proposed cyclical approach and showed that by controlling the appointment diary at an individual level the lead time for a Surveyor appointment reduced from 36 to 8.5 days.  This pilot approach defined the software specification, business case and the process prior to purchase and implementation.

• Relaying the jobs overnight to the mobile device enabled the operatives to work from home for one Authority.  This reduced the travel time to their first appointment and prevented the early morning office bottleneck. 

• Corporate policy to use SAP purchasing would have required £160k+ in integration costs for one Departmental.  The stand-alone solution only cost £20k.    

Benefits derive by being clear about the business objectives and looking at the entire process end to end.

Many of the ideas described above include both people and technology issues.  In our experience the people issues are the biggest challenge:

• Access to back office appointment diaries can be major hurdle: loss of freedom, responsibility, big brother, fear of control are all issues.

• The staff must be involved with designing the new process and understand the changes required of them.

 Few ICT suppliers can offer the complete spectrum of tools required: 

• The larger names offer partner suppliers but they do not understand the details of the functionality or provide the best options.

• Some mobile suppliers offer a leasing option which provides a low risk entry.

• Selecting “best of breed” from several suppliers risks integration issues.

• The integration issues can be a major hurdle to achieving business benefit.  By clarifying the information that needs to transfer along the process right first time reduces a lot of downstream cost and delay.

Most implementations are completed in several stages.  This spreads the load on the rate of spend how much change the organisation can really handle. Clarify what can technically be implemented in what sequence, what brings the most benefits, then manage the procedures through each change.  Obtain budget approval for the whole project at the start.

The two things we know about implementing a very new process is that:

• It will not be right first time.

• Customer needs change very quickly 

Optimising the mobile working process will require constant steering and the entire process needs to be looked at as one.  Instigate a robust process for reviewing further changes logically and quickly.  

• The role of Process Owner should be created and based in the back-office. They set and maintain the service.  The CSC reports to the Process Owner.

• Continuous improvement starts with measuring the new process performance, both holistically and locally. Improvement actions should involve all the staff.

• Project resources should be planned and budgeted for to enable future changes. 

Introducing Mobile Working requires a review of the entire process from end to end.   Changes cannot be implemented piecemeal without appropriate changes elsewhere in the chain. The major hurdles are the people and the culture.  Design what the process should be and do so at a detail level before selecting the ICT solution. The ICT is costly, and the major risks are at the integration points.  Plan the process needs thoroughly however and the benefits will be large and fast arriving.

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