Our vision is to have exceptional customer services as the beating heart of a modern and people-focused council. We will be at the forefront of meeting residents' needs, as well as those of businesses and visitors. 

Services will be offered across a range of channels, meaning all digitally enabled residents can access them online while getting seamless help on other channels where they need it. At the same time, customers who struggle to get online will have our help to use services, through our work to reduce digital exclusion. 

We want to bring more first-line services together and offer our residents a seamless journey. By doing this, we hope to become significantly more efficient, by: 

• releasing back-office staff to take on more specialised tasks where appropriate 

• improving customer services levels by introducing a wider choice of channels for residents 

• improving customer services productivity, meaning we can serve more residents without increasing staffing levels 

Our first step on this journey has already been achieved with the introduction of a new telephone system at the Contact Centre. This has allowed us more flexibility around the way we respond to customer contacts and has the potential to be expanded to include webchat and email to support our customers with their queries.