Customer Services Diagnostic
Client Context
Westminster City Council commissioned Human Engine to undertake a comprehensive review of customer access, service and experience across the organisation. The Council wanted to better understand how residents interacted with services, improve customer experience, reduce avoidable demand and operating costs and develop a future customer operating model aligned to its ambitions for digital enablement, accessibility and prevention. The review considered all customer contact channels, including telephone, digital, face-to-face and direct service access, providing a council-wide view of customer experience, demand and performance.
Our Approach
Key elements of our approach included:
Customer Diagnostic and Maturity Assessment: Undertook a comprehensive review of customer access, experience and service delivery using Human Engine's Customer Maturity Model, assessing strategy, culture, performance, demand management, digital capability and customer insight.
Stakeholder and Resident Engagement: Engaged with over 150 staff and 50 residents through interviews, workshops, service visits and customer research to understand current challenges, barriers and opportunities for improvement.
Data and Demand Analysis: Analysed customer contact and performance data across multiple channels, including over 400,000 calls, 72,746 Report It cases, 28,482 live chat sessions and more than 4,000 customer satisfaction responses.
Service Deep Dives and Journey Mapping: Completed detailed assessments of high-demand services to understand customer journeys, identify failure demand, map service handoffs and highlight opportunities for service redesign.
Target Operating Model Design: Developed a future-state customer strategy, Target Operating Model, implementation roadmap and performance framework focused on delivering improved customer outcomes, greater efficiency and increased digital adoption
Outputs and Outcomes
The key outputs and outcomes of this work included:
Evidence-Led Customer Diagnostic: Delivered a comprehensive assessment of customer access, demand, performance and experience across 12 customer contact channels, providing a single view of customer interactions across the Council.
26 Prioritised Recommendations: Produced a detailed improvement programme covering customer strategy, culture, performance, demand management, digital services and customer insight.
Council-Wide Target Operating Model: Designed a future customer operating model centred on prevention, digital enablement and improved customer outcomes, supporting a vision of being digital where possible and human where it matters.
Performance Framework Redesign: Developed a refreshed performance framework focused on customer outcomes, experience and value rather than traditional transactional measures.
Savings and Efficiency Opportunities: Identified cashable savings opportunities of between £2.1 million and £5.5 million through service redesign, channel optimisation, demand reduction and improved customer journeys.
Improved Customer Experience: Established a roadmap for improving accessibility, digital adoption, workforce capability and customer satisfaction, creating a more consistent and resident-focused customer experience across the Council.
About Us
Human Engine is a leading management consultancy with specialisms in strategy, transformation, digital, commercial, procurement and projects.
Founded in 2018, we have partnered with more than 50 local authorities, central government, NHS organisations and national charities to help transform their strategies, operations and cultures.
Our mission is to help individuals and organisations to do the best work of their lives. We do this by blending first-hand, practical experience of the problems we help our clients solve with award-winning consulting expertise and an approach based on trust, collaboration and partnership.