Achieves Excellence with the Help of Kodak Scanning Technology

The new scanning technology has improved customer service and perception of the service we deliver – before, customers would have seen their application go into a pile of other paperwork; now within a few hours after sitting down with a customer advisor, they can see their application being processed. In fact, what would have taken three days to process, now takes around 15 minutes to do so. The scanning solution has been a vital part of the Comino ICT improvement project and has helped reduce our operating costs, changed the way our staff work and improved the customer experience and perception.

~David McElhinney, Chief Executive of Liverpool Direct Ltd.

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Background

Liverpool Direct Ltd, a joint venture with BT and Liverpool City Council, was launched in 2001 to improve public services in one of the UK’s largest cities.

Liverpool Direct manages over 200,000 Council Tax Accounts. The council’s benefit caseload exceeds 78,000, with around 60% of this involved in rent allowance. A network of 11 community based One-Stop-Shops was rolled out between 2001 and 2005 and a 24/7 Contact Centre established with dedicated 7–till-10 Revenues and Benefits Team.

Project Overview

Comino, provider of computerised business solutions to the local government sector, was tasked with delivering a phased project to transform Liverpool Direct’s imaging and workflow system – updating it and providing new functionality and business benefits in line with an overall drive to make the ICT more efficient, customer-centric and effective.

Kodak products and services are an integral part of the complete ICT solution Comino delivered and at the heart of the image scanning solution, are over thirty i60 and i260 Kodak document scanners. In the first phase of implementation, Comino focussed on delivering clear business benefits such as reducing operating costs. It then set out to optimise the workflow deployment in Phase Two. Once these two critical phases were implemented, the solution was then rolled out to the One-Stop-Shops. The Kodak scanners have been in use in them since July 2004 and Comino has rolled out the solution to nine Shops. They are being used by over 180 staff.

Kodak scanners were used because of the high image quality they deliver, as well as offering reliability and robustness. They also have the ability to deal with a wide variety of documents with autofeeding and flatbed scanning options.

Business Benefits

The use of Kodak scanners in the One-Stop-Shops has delivered a 40% reduction in centralised scanning, a 20% reduction in centralised indexing and three days reduction in end-to-end processing time. For customers, this also means improved customer confi dence as they can see their application being processed in front of them.

The time to process new claims in the benefits department has been reduced from 136 days to just 33 days.

Using the Scanning Solution

Before the Comino system was implemented, a customer applying for housing benefit, for instance, would speak to a Contact Centre advisor who would then need to see their case history paper files to fi nd out what the customer was entitled to. Now, the entire file, with previous applications, the necessary identity documents such as a utility bill or driving licence, is available electronically having been scanned and indexed via the new scanning solution. Liverpool Direct advisors can not only process the application faster this way but can also recommend other benefits or services that the customer may be entitled to.

Customers in the One-Stop-Shops receive a bar-coded receipt that classifies them as a new case and this is inputted into Liverpool Direct’s workflow system. They also receive details of Liverpool Direct’s unique 14-day response promise where Liverpool Direct is committed to delivering a response to a new application within a fortnight.

The Comino solution has also meant a reduction in photocopying costs – before, documents would have to be copied, then sent onto central scanning to be inputted into the Council’s system. Now, they are scanned on the spot. It also delivers better security and keeps customers happy – fewer documents need to be sent away, so less documents are lost, damaged or misplaced – improving the customer experience and reducing complaints.

Reducing Costs

Over 180 staff are now using the Kodak scanners and it has meant a 45% reduction of centralised scanning. This has also meant a reduction in some of the more mundane clerical work that Contact Centre staff did previously – such as photocopying, filing and moving paper from one department to another – to higher value work. Liverpool Direct estimates that this low-level clerical work accounted for around 15% of its resources.