Channel Shift Live

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DIGITALLEADERS

Conference Report

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Executive Summary

Channel Shift Live took place on 8th December 2011 at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), followed by a reception at the House of Lords.

This event brought together influential leaders from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to examine the challenges and opportunities presented by the Channel Shift agenda, which recognises that moving increasing numbers of services online can drive Government efficiency and generate significant economic savings.

The day’s programme sought to inspire and empower leaders with practical solutions and new partners for realising organisational change in making the shift to providing services ‘digital by default’.

Channel Shift Live was organised in conjunction with the Digital Leaders Whitehall Programme, which brings together senior decision makers from Government, industry and the not-for-profit sector to engage with the latest policy, innovation and solutions for delivering ‘digital by default’ channel strategies. Further information about the Digital Leaders Programme can be found at www.digitalleaders.co.uk.

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Policy Context

In October this year, the Government published its ‘ICT Strategy – Strategic Implementation Plan’, which sets out how the Government intends to realise the policy of all public services provided ‘digital by default’ through a Channel Shift from traditional paper hard-copy or face-to-face to online modes of interaction with citizens.

The Government’s Channel Shift in public service provision is intended to make service delivery quicker, simpler and more responsive to user demand. Leading this change is the Government Digital Service (GDS), which plans to make services available whenever and wherever users want to access them through a range of digital devices, supported by a network of Assisted Digital channels to help those unable to access solely digital services.

This policy agenda has been defined in response to the ‘Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution Not Evolution’ report by Martha Lane Fox, UK Digital Champion to the Coalition government. Lane Fox explains that: “moving towards a service culture and treating government transactions more like those in the private sector which can be completed quickly, easily, and through a range of online providers, citizen (or consumer) experience will be considerably improved over traditional transactions and existing piecemeal online services.”

As Channel Shift rises up the political agenda, this conference will provide a timely opportunity to address the challenges it poses to both service providers and users, and to present service owners with take-away solutions and best practice for making the shift to digital within their own organisations.

Kevin SellerMike Bracken Myrtle Lloyd

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Plenary Session 1: Digital Services for All

The first plenary session, hosted by Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA, addressed the wider context of the Channel Shift Agenda; examining why it is important for Government and organisations in terms of economic savings and improving user experience, what it means in practice, and how organisations can start on the journey to digital service delivery.

Mike BrackenHMG Executive Director for Digital, Cabinet Office

Mike Bracken began by discussing the work of the Government Digital Service (GDS) in shifting the culture of Government digital service design; recognising that services need to be accessible to their users – citizens – and orientating online services towards their demands.

He stressed the importance of embedding user need at the heart of Channel Shift strategies, and of taking ownership of the user experience in designing services. He used the example of successful social networking sites and search engines which use a simple, recognisable and universal style to make users want to return to their service, and set out the GDS’s aim of making services attractive and consistent across Government so that users are immediately able to recognise where they are and to navigate more easily to the service or through the process which they require.

To this end, Mike Bracken also insisted that Channel Shift should not involve simply digitalising paper forms, which do not translate well to a digital format, but that service designers should begin by considering how to enable users to complete online transactions with Government with as much ease as, for example, online stores in the private sector.

Mike’s presentation highlighted the importance of changing the culture of thinking about online service design in order to deliver Channel Shift in an inclusive and effective manner. He discussed how, in the past, service designers preferred to deliver a project and then move on, and that long procurement timeframes required service owners to try and predict circumstances several years into the future.

Mike suggested an alternative way of thinking about online service delivery and Channel Shift: continuously iterating projects and ensuring that service owners learn from the design and delivery process, so that they are able to adapt services in a responsive and immediate fashion and ensure the ongoing suitability of services for the demands of users and the technology they operate through.

Myrtle LloydNetwork Services Director, DWP

Myrtle Lloyd drew on her experience of leading the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Universal Credit programme to present the challenges and opportunities facing this major Government department in operationalising the vision for ‘digital by default’ service provision.

Myrtle identified the opportunity which Channel Shift offers DWP in terms of cost savings; the department has, over the course of the past year, had 90 million contacts with customers, received 30 million calls and made 21 million changes to records. With the far lower cost of making transactions online, she argued that moving a percentage of high-volume transactions, which also have a low value to the customer, online has the potential to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of DWP’s services.

She also pointed to a survey of DWP’s customers from July 2009 to June 2010 which suggests that a large proportion of the department’s customer base are already internet users, with 63% of pensions and disability claimants willing to do eligibility checks online and 51% willing to claim online. Myrtle suggested that the research points to a customer base more prepared and willing for Channel Shift than myths and assumptions about the organisation’s customers have previously held.

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Plenary Session 1: Digital Services for All

DWP’s Channel Shift strategy has made a number of pension claims available to complete online, and the department is currently working to enable claimants to check the status of claims and make changes to their record of circumstances digitally. However, Myrtle also highlighted a number of challenges and areas still to improve in DWP’s Channel Shift strategy. She pointed out that there is currently no end-to-end digital service, meaning that online systems currently have one channel feeding into another rather than being a fully integrated process from the front to back end.

Myrtle also had advice for other organisations planning their own Channel Shift strategies:

• - Involve staff and customers in the service design process.• - Promote Channel Shift visibly from the top of the organisation, such as asking senior managers to be • digital leaders.• - Look at the outcome and work back, identifying what needs to change in a process.• - Become a 24/7 organisation, and improve legacy IT systems to make this possible.• - Do no discount minor things such as taking a laptop to meetings rather than a stack of papers.

Kevin SellerHead of Government Services, Post Office

Kevin Seller began by setting out the important role that Post Offices continue to play in communities throughout the country, with 11,500 branches and 93% of the population living within one mile of a branch. He argued that Post Offices and their trusted brand could provide a front office for Government and support all channels of transaction with citizens at each of these locations, in both urban and rural environments.

He set out the Post Office’s plans for modernising branches and incorporating self service kiosks, biometric services and dedicated areas for digital transactions, which enable customers to complete Government transactions online with staff on hand to guide them through the process. Customers are able not only to complete transactions online in a supportive environment, but Post Office staff are able to digitalise face-to-face and paper channels over the counter for those unable or unwilling to transact online directly.

Kevin stated that the Post Office’s facilities encourage customers to see the benefit of digital services by not having to join the queue for the counter, and helping customers not to be intimidated by the online experience. He also stressed the importance of unifying the customer experience across channels, so that users are able to follow a familiar process under a familiar brand whether they transact over the counter or online.

Kevin demonstrated how, by taking a multi-channel approach with Assisted Digital at its heart, the Post Office is helping customers who may not have the skills or technology at home to access ‘digital by default’ services, and thereby helping to facilitate the wider Channel Shift in public services.

The second plenary session, also hosted by Matthew Taylor, explored the opportunities and challenges faced by organisations making the Channel Shift to digital. It showcased some of latest solutions for making a user-centric, accessible and inclusive shift to digital service delivery, and presented successful strategies for central and local Government as well as Assisted Digital projects for helping citizens to use online channels.

Helen MilnerChief Executive, Online Centres Foundation

Helen Milner set out the role of UK online centres, now the Online Centres Foundation, in providing encouragement, support and the facilities for helping people in communities throughout England to get online.

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Plenary Session 2: Delivering a Channel Shift

Helen set out the economic benefits of Channel Shift for public services, citing research by PwC for the Government’s Digital Champion, Martha Lane Fox, which found that if all the UK’s digitally excluded adults got online and made one digital contact each month, it would save the Government £900 million per year.

She also outlined some of the challenges to this target of a fully networked nation, including that only 54% of adults have ever used an online Government service, and that 64% of those currently offline think that the internet has nothing of interest for them.

Helen emphasised that Channel Shift is a change programme, not simply a technological issue, and that it is important for service owners to convince their customers of the benefits of getting online and of using online services. She also stressed the importance of allaying fears about the internet, and publicising digital success stories as well as warnings about online safety which, if over emphasised, can deter people from using online services altogether.

Helen set out how the Online Centres Foundation, working with 3,800 community partners in churches, libraries, mosques and buses, offers free IT classes and online access to those currently offline. These centres and their volunteers have helped 750,000 people get online between April 2010 and November 2011, saving the Government an estimated £118 million. Although those attending the centres do not necessarily ask for help accessing Government services upon arrival, 43% do switch to online channels.

Phil PavittChief Information Officer, HMRC

Phil Pavitt presented his experience in leading Channel Shift in the Government’s most online department, which has a customer base of 38 million individuals and 12 million businesses. He set out how essential Channel Shift is for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which has been set the target of increasing revenue by £23 billion at a time of dramatic cuts, and therefore needs to improve efficiency and reduce transaction costs.

With the evident benefits of Channel Shift for HMRC, Phil identified the challenges of how to design simple online processes with thousands of rules governing taxation. He also identified the issue of moving services online which are more easily dealt with face-to-face, such as fraud prevention, or changes as a result of death or illness. There are also the technical challenges of fraudulent emails and denial of service attacks which threaten both the consistency of the organisation’s service, and the security of customers. Despite this, he recommended that service owners should not publicise the dangers of the internet above other messages, as it risks dissuading customers from digital channels completely.

Phil emphasised that Channel Shift is a cultural change, not only a technological problem. He stressed the importance of understanding customers’ needs and that there is a sizable portion of customers willing and able to use digital services, as well as other groups that need more support or the option to transact through other channels.

Helen Milner Phil Pavitt Stephen Baker

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Plenary Session 2: Delivering a Channel Shift

Stephen BakerChief Executive, Suffolk Coastal District Council and Waveney District Council

Stephen Baker offered insight into delivering Channel Shift at a local Government level, and emphasised how digital is indispensible for local Government in the context of budget cuts.

Stephen set out the importance of improving rural broadband access as a prerequisite for Channel Shift across public services, but also identified the importance of considering changing trends in access, such as through mobile internet, when designing services.

In terms of delivering Channel Shift, Stephen emphasised the importance of designing services for the future, built around digital delivery, rather than simply reverting to paper forms and processes, or designing online forms in this style of the past. He also urged service designers to act quickly and adapt to new technology; iterating services to ensure they continue to meet users’ requirements.

Another key element of Stephen’s presentation was the importance of reviewing risk management, a particularly pertinent consideration for councillors who are accountable to the electorate, which can result in an overly cautious attitude towards organisational change. He encouraged an easing of this caution to improve the rate at which change can take place, to bring service design more in line with the rapid rate of technological developments, and working with partner organisations to help mitigate risk.

However, he also reminded the audience that it is important to retain a degree of caution when using certain digital channels, such as social networks, which may encourage a blurring between the professional and personal online presence of service owners.

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Breakout Panels

The breakout panels provided delegates with the opportunity to break into smaller groups to engage with specific themes within the Channel Shift agenda, and to hear from, and debate with, pioneers, policy makers, social entrepreneurs and leading delivery agencies who are delivering effective channel shift strategies within these sectors.

Each contributor presented the audience with their practical insight and offered a number of key messages for delivering Channel Shift in practice.

DIGITAL PUBLIC SERVICES

Chaired by Tristan Wilkinson, Head of Public Sector EMEA for Intel, this panel addressed common barriers to Channel Shift and how to overcome them; with contributors presenting their experience and advice for leading organisational change inside and outside of Government.

Simon Pollock, Head of Customer Services, Surrey County Council

Simon presented his insight into leading Channel Shift in local Government, drawing on his experience as an author of the Cabinet Office’s 2009 Channel Strategy Guide:

• - Channel shift does not mean simply moving an organisation’s customer contact online; deliberate. Channel Shift is the design and marketing of effective and efficient channels because they are the most

• appropriate channel for the type of contact, customer and organisation.• - Channel Shift leadership should be centralised, to ensure clarity of focus and message.• - Unified leadership and communication is important between customer contact centres and web teams, • to ensure that customer requirements are driving the design of digital service provision.• David Dinsdale, e-Government Product Director, Atos

David presented a number of key considerations for improving online services through better search facilities and user centric design:

• - As a website is populated with content, customer journeys will deteriorate. Customer journeys may cross • organisational boundaries, and it is important to ensure services connect up with one another across • such boundaries to enable users to complete the task they were searching for.• - The best methodologies for designing new products involve consultation with internal and external • clients including through focus groups, customer brainstorming, internal and external ideas contests, • and disruptive technologies.• - It is important to talk to customers to find out what their requirements and issues are, rather than simply • consulting web logs and usage trends.• - Designers must consider the difference between usability and user centric design, and ensure their • services meet both requirements.

David Dinsdale Amanda Derrick Robin Christopherson

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Breakout Panels

Robin Christopherson, Head of Digital Inclusion, AbilityNet

ASSISTED DIGITAL SERVICES

Chaired by John Fisher, Chief Executive of Citizens Online, this panel showcased successful Assisted Digital schemes, which encourage users online to use digital channels while making that change as easy as possible for the user to make.

Richard Gutsell, Head of Business Development, Post Office

Richard presented the Post Office’s vision for future branch design and their role in providing an Assisted Digital channel, setting out the following key messages:

• - It is essential to cater for an offline customer base, and to include this group in channel strategies – The • Post Office’s model will enable face-to-face transactions over the counter to be digitalised, and for the• back end to be completely digital.• - Digital kiosks offer the facility for completing forms online, printing digital forms for completion by hand, • or filling out forms onscreen with the option to print for postal submission.• - In-branch computer rooms will offer customers the opportunity to be guided through online processes• by trained staff.• - The Post Office plans to co-locate branches in Local Authorities and libraries to leverage existing • community infrastructure for providing Assisted Digital services.

Anne Faulkner, Director of Strategy, Online Centres Foundation

Anne presented her experience of working with UK online centres, now the Online Centres Foundation, to provide Assisted Digital services through a network of partner organisations and volunteers:

• - The private sector offers examples of good practice for Assisted Digital, such as computer shops which • are welcoming and where staff are on hand to guide customers in using the technology.• - Community infrastructure is too often ignored in strategies for Assisted Digital: communities offer a long • term support structure for encouraging individuals to learn about and use digital technology; it is not • simply an issue of providing people with computers.• - Outreach is important as some communities do not have the community venues for offering digital help • from a centralised location.• - Channel Shift to digital services has the potential to reduce isolation rather than increase it; with people • congregating at Assisted Digital access points such as Post Offices or online centres.• Amanda Derrick, Programme Director, Connect Digitally

Amanda presented her insight into delivering joined up government services digitally, including registration for free school meals and school admissions, in a partnership between the Department for Education and a number of local authorities:

• - It is important not to dismiss certain customer groups as unwilling or unable to access digital services. • For example, 15 local authorities in the South West, an area of low broadband coverage, achieved 80% • take up of online school admissions services.• - Channel Shift can improve take up of services with social stigma attached, such as having to collect • evidence from a Job Centre to prove eligibility for free school meals. Moving this process online can help • ensure those who are eligible are not deterred by social factors.• - Citizens perceive Government as a single unit, and expect data held by one department or organisation • to be available to another. Joining up services and improving data sharing digitally can therefore improve

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Breakout Panels

• service efficiency and customer experience.• - More intuitive design of services can help improve user take up: Digital services can offer related • information or services when one transaction is completed online; pre-populated forms and drop-down • menus can make digital services quicker and easier to complete; and innovative use of technology, such • as tablet computers, can help encourage access for the elderly, for example, by providing a more • intuitive interface. • SOCIAL HOUSING & COMMUNITIES

Chaired by Helen Milner, Chief Executive of Online Centres Foundation, this panel brought together social landlords with those delivering key customer facing services to explore the key solutions and best practice for helping tenants, who comprise a large proportion of the UK’s offline adults, and providers make the digital Channel Shift.

Helen offered her own advice on the panel topic:

• - Produce a simple staged plan for Channel Shift, with easy wins that build trust and momentum.• - Bring senior management and the executive team on board from the outset.• - Identify in-house digital advocates and ensure that staff are digitally competent.• Ben Carpenter, Special Advisor, Race Online 2012

Ben offered some key perspectives from his experience of working with housing associations and social housing residents as part of Race Online 2012’s efforts to help all citizens get online:

• - Housing providers often overestimate the costs and underestimate the benefits of helping their 4 million • offline tenants online (by approximately an order of 7 in each case). Digital technology meets the twin • imperatives of social housing: delivering more for less and fulfilling core social commitments.• - There is often a ‘motivation barrier’ to social housing residents getting online, which providers need to • overcome by demonstrating the benefits of the internet for its users.• - Teamwork is essential – it is important to find productive and mutually beneficial partnerships, and • success comes when housing associations, technology providers and agencies work together.• - There are resources in place that housing providers can use, including large amounts of existing tools • and blueprints, and ‘champions’ and ‘advocates’ living in communities that can support providers’ • objectives and get neighbours on board.

Sam Pratley, Head of Business Excellence, WM Housing

Sam offered key lessons from his experience of encouraging organisational change within WM Housing’s four housing associations:

• - Small changes can make a big difference: moving the resident newsletter online has saved 60% of its • cost; and shifting the channel of satisfaction surveys from postal to SMS has saved the cost of sending • 56,000 letters and improved upon the 1% response rate to these.• - Customers are often happier to change channels than providers think.• - Providers are often poor at telling people about online services, and the provider’s online presence • needs content to give users an incentive to visit.

Breakout Panels

Debbie Ross, Community IT Programme & Relationship Manager, Sunderland Council

Debbie presented the key lessons learned from 10 years of developing a digital programme at Sunderland Council:

• - A partnership approach is vital to success, and it is important to engage local people – Sunderland • Council has a dedicated IT section that goes out to support partner organisations that need to make • sure the technology keeps working. This ensures residents’ confidence in the technology, as local • delivery organisations often do not have the expertise or resources to manage it themselves.• - Work with the voluntary and community sector – Sunderland Council has partnered with Gentoo, a • social housing provider, which provides equipment and connectivity while Age UK helps with outreach. • The partnership model (the Council providing support; Gentoo providing equipment and resources; • and Age UK providing training expertise) worked so well that it has been applied in 19 Gentoo locations.• - Support local people to be proactive in their communities as their voice means much more than the • council’s – The council has spent time and money in creating and linking together online communities, • hyper-local sites and communities of interest. However, these are handed over to the communities to • own themselves, and the council always offers to help and contribute rather than mandate.

TRAINING AND SKILLS

This panel, chaired by Mark Walker, Marketing Manager for AbilityNet, examined strategies for up-skilling citizens to enable them to make us of and receive as much benefit as possible from using the internet and services moved online as part of digital Channel Shift.

Sal Cooke, Director, JISC TechDis

Sal presented lessons from her experience in supporting organisations in the education sector to make services accessible with technology:

• - The needs of the disabled must be incorporated into Channel Shift strategies, and services must be • accessible to all who need to use them.• - Accessibility should be central to training programmes to ensure that teachers are able to meet the• needs of disabled users, and to help them use digital services more easily and effectively.• Paul McElvaney, Director, Learning Pool

Paul offered a number of key lessons for organisations making the move to e-learning:

• - It is important to think carefully about the content of educational programmes, and be aware that this• goes out of date. • - E-learning and community based learning methods benefit from economies of scale, enabling • organisations to reach a greater number of people for less.• - E-learning can enable organisations to easily measure the use and impact of training systems, and • evaluation should be built into processes early.• - Educational software is often available for free.

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Breakout Panels

Kevin McLean, Director of Operations, Online Centres Foundation

Kevin presented advice and good practice for offering e-skills learning for people getting online for the first time and those helping them:

• - It is important to make access as easy as possible: if someone has a computer, a connection and is able • to open a browser, the online service should be usable by them.• - For people going online for the first time, fear is often a factor that needs to be addressed by education • providers. Services should be designed in an accessible and approachable fashion, that encourage users • to use them rather than discouraging them with complexity.

House of Lords Reception

Following the sessions at BIS, attendees had the opportunity to discuss the day’s themes and presentations and network over tea in the Cholmondeley Room and the House of Lords Terrace.

The reception was hosted by Rt Hon Lord Knight of Weymouth, a long-time supporter of digital inclusion, who, while Minister of State for Schools and Minister of State for Employment, led the Home Access Project and advocated the use of technology at the forefront of education and learning.

The reception heard a keynote speech by Graham Walker, Government Director to the UK Digital Champion, who presented a series of New Year’s resolutions for encouraging and empowering Channel Shift; including creating an environment for young talent to flourish, helping senior managers work digitally and lead Channel Shift from the top down, and following the example of the Government Digital Service’s single domain for Government, which it is continuously iterating to put user demand first.

Rt Hon Lord Knight Houses of Parliament Graham Walker

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