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HIGHLAND - AT THE FOREFRONT OF ELECTRONIC DELIVERY
The Highland Council is to introduce new technology that will take the Highlands to the forefront of electronic service delivery within Scotland. The new Customer Relationship Management System will enable seamless service delivery, across all access channels, between the frontline and back office operations of the Council.

The system, which will enable fulfilment of enquires on a face-to-face, telephony and Internet basis, is to be piloted in Ross and Cromarty, where the Council operates nine Service Points. A Service Point is a one-stop centre, where the public can pay bills and get advice and information on Council services.

Emphasis has been given to improving the telephony contact as it is estimated that 75% of all public contact with the Council is via the telephone. A benefit of this will be to allow Service Point staff to focus on face-to-face enquiries. On completion of the pilot, the system will be rolled out to all Service Points by January 2004.

John Tyreman, the Councils Head of Electronic Government said: Although there is a large element of technology within the project, the emphasis is on the delivery of services to people by people with the technology acting as an aid to enhance and improve Council performance. As well as acting as an exemplar of best practice, this project will ensure that the Council meets targets set for Electronic Government by 2005.