Tom Rahder from business communications provider Esendex talks about how using mobile messaging can improve productivity and efficiency in local governments as pressures on finances and services continue to increase.
Improving productivity in the public sector and local authorities emerged as a key priority for central government in the recent Spring Budget, with significant funding earmarked to improve efficiency and ensure that every taxpayer dollar is put to good use. did.
At a time when local authorities are facing significant financial pressures and their spending is under intense scrutiny, they are finding ways to reduce administrative costs and free up available resources while providing the best possible service to local communities. It is very important to find a way to get the most out of it. they serve.
Council tax is so important to the council's income that collecting payments quickly is critical to maintaining the quality of service delivery. Similarly, the ability to quickly communicate up-to-date information to residents and businesses will change the way we engage with our communities and efficiently deliver public services.
Technology plays a big role in meeting both of these requirements, but it doesn't have to be complicated. In some cases, just using a text message can have a big impact on your results. This frees up your staff to work in other areas and prevents them from wasting time making unnecessary phone calls.
A quick and convenient way to increase local government productivity
For a long time, letters and posters through the postbox have been an effective way for councils to communicate with residents. Over time, the means of communicating messages shifted to email and social media.
However, with more than nine out of 10 people in the UK now owning a smartphone, it has become even easier to reach residents via mobile phone. This is a very useful way to notify people about a particular service or event, direct them to a self-service portal for online payments, or send reminders.
Given the immediacy and personal nature of SMS, it is an ideal channel for quickly communicating important messages. In recent years, we've seen councils use text messages in a variety of ways, from tracking council tax arrears and completed applications to notifying people of emergencies such as flood warnings and road closures.
An effective mobile messaging strategy allows you to tackle some of your most time-consuming tasks using automated messaging, reducing the need for posting letters and making phone calls. This reduces administrator workload and costs.
Connecting with residents through their preferred communication channels often increases community engagement as well. Residents can instantly receive text messages on their mobile phones and take immediate action or respond more quickly.
Instead, the city council says resident participation has improved. They have recovered millions in unpaid council tax debts and missed appointments have also reduced. All of this helps achieve overall efficiency.
Smooth debt collection
We've seen many examples of how councils have successfully used mobile messaging to connect with their communities and improve their own productivity.
As an example, Rotherham City Council will recover £1.8 million in council tax arrears between June 2022 and June 2023 after starting to use text reminders and mobile payment portals as a way to smoothly collect debts. I was able to.
The payment process for residents has been streamlined, replacing labor-intensive letters and phone calls to issue reminders and summonses. The need for city councils to make in-person visits was reduced, and staff were instead reassigned to other debt collection activities.
There has been a dramatic change in the way people interact with councils. Its mobile system, which incorporates reminder SMS messaging and an online payment portal, has seen monthly recipient responses of 17% to 44% and click-through rates from recipients who engaged with city council messages of 34% to 67%.
Rob Katz, the city's director of services, revenue, benefits and payments, said it would result in a “faster, safer and more convenient way for customers to pay their council tax”, increasing payments and helping administrative staff. He said that there was a reduction in the number of time.
He added: “By reducing the number of steps required for our customers and automating and pre-populating much of their account data, we have reduced friction and dramatically increased collections throughout this process.” .
It's a similar story at Brighton & Hove City Council. Brighton & Hove City Council has integrated SMS messaging into its existing software solution to achieve its vision to improve communications and modernize access to services.
In a bid to go paperless, the council has started using text to manage council tax reminders, blue badge renewal notifications and HGV levies. We have also launched a council tax account portal where customers can be targeted through bulk or individual text messages to keep up to date with their installment payments.
The council said there had been a huge response to the communication, with more residents setting up direct debits to avoid receiving reminder messages again.
Nikki Donaldson-Aldiss, the council's systems program manager, said texting was “an easy and affordable way to instantly communicate with your target audience”.
Additionally, “Text messages allow you to quickly communicate with customers to let them know that a payment is due or that further information is required. This prevents further recovery efforts and We have found it saves time and money for both our customers and the council.”
Valuable Message: Find the latest ways to improve local government productivity
Text messages aren't just effective for collecting city taxes or debts. It's also a way to quickly share information, especially during emergencies where timing is critical.
For Leeds City Council, SMS has proven successful in communicating important messages with local businesses. We have set up the LeedsAlert service to allow businesses to sign up and receive news about local fires, road closures, city center disruptions such as protests and marches.
The city's director of emergency planning resources said the two-way messaging system “has proven invaluable” in easily communicating with local businesses during emergencies. When the Tour de France arrived in Leeds, SMS played a key role in keeping businesses up to date with staged road closures, keeping people away from the busiest areas and tracking lost people. was used by the review committee to
The use cases for texting are endless. Sometimes the simplest features can have the greatest impact. Considering that most people rarely leave the house without their mobile phones these days, texting has become ubiquitous and remains the most immediate and effective means of communication. SMS is as relevant today as ever and is the natural mode of communication for municipalities looking to save money and time and reach their residents and customers quickly.
This article was written and brought to you by Tom Rahder from Esendex, a business communications provider.
