The Parking Services team at Solihull Council in the West Midlands has taken full advantage of automated solutions to maximise operational efficiencies and deliver a more effective service for customers. Following the successful introduction of the Response Master letter-generating tool, the authority is now also using Barbour Logic’s Self-Serve system to improve the speed and quality of customer engagement.
Led by Carl Newman, Solihull Council’s Parking Services Manager, the authority’s team is responsible for delivering effective parking management across the borough. An important role of the 4 person team is responding to 5,400 challenges and appeals each year from motorists who have received a PCN.
“The administrative demands for providing bespoke responses to every challenge and appeal was quite demanding for us,” says Carl. “And it always proved difficult to provide timely responses to customers. The number of repeat contacts because of inconsistencies, oversights and incomplete challenges just compounded the situation.
“The introduction of Barbour Logic’s automated solutions has truly transformed our operations. Thanks to Response Master we’re now providing accurate, concise, consistent and clear responses to all challenges within 7 working days – four times faster than before. Now, working in tandem with the interactive and intelligent Self-Serve platform, the quality of our engagement with people has increased significantly. 18% of motorists who were planning on challenging, no longer do so after receiving advice from Self-Serve. We’ve also seen much higher first contact resolution and improved recovery rates.”