Salesforce Implementation: Empowering Customers and Staff
The Foundation for a Connected Council
Guildford Borough Council’s (GBC’s) funding from central government was steadily reducing and removed entirely in the financial year 2018/19. The Council is now reliant on Council Tax, retained Business Rates, New Homes Bonus and locally raised fees and charges as its core funding streams. The Council’s medium-term financial strategy identified a need to save approximately £10.4M for the period 2020/21 to 2022/23.
GBC embarked upon a journey to move to a cloud-based solution that would enable the Council to embrace modern digital solutions, reduce costs, empower its Customer Services Team, and improve the customer experience. GBC wanted customers to be able to track and manage their requests online, and remove the need for the customer services team to interact with multiple independent systems simultaneously.
Key success factors:
Enable new operating model based on flexible organisational design
Make best use of digital technologies to deliver cost-effective services
Improve customer experience, engagement and a future-proof platform
The Goal: to strategically empower the Council to streamline processes and deliver a joined-up digital service offering across all council services
Salesforce and NimbusPoint
GBC were looking for a solution that could meet its requirements, to be built upon in-house without the need for extensive future development. It was also critical that GBC could identify with, and work with, an implementation partner to provide the initial build and complete any ongoing enhancements in the form of a partnership, and ensure the overall project was a team effort.
After reviewing a variety of CRM platforms, Salesforce® was identified as the preferred solution to deliver a multi-channel CRM with powerful automation, integration and mobile working capabilities. Through the procurement process, NimbusPoint was identified as the chosen solution-delivery partner, thanks to their product knowledge, expertise and approach to project management.
“Salesforce was seen as a great solution for streamlining our processes”
Emma Felgate, Business Improvement & Customer Service Manager
The NimbusPoint Solution
NimbusPoint proposed a comprehensive Salesforce solution and implementation to serve as GBC’s customer relationship management (CRM) tool. Primarily using “out-of-the-box” features of Salesforce Service Cloud™, Experience Cloud™ (Portal) and Field Service™ (Scheduler), coupled with a mindset of a “low code-no code” solution. GBC now has a powerful platform with key capabilities such as online case creation, booking and payment management, and mobile working that can be used to develop new services with minimal coding.
To meet the needs of Guildford’s customers, NimbusPoint created an accessible Customer Portal using Salesforce Experience, branded and seamlessly integrated with their website and social media to deliver an all-encompassing customer experience.
To extend the reach of the solution, GBC staff on the road make use of the Salesforce Mobile App, allowing for work to be easily passed between teams and resolve issues without the need to return to the office/depot.
The Result: an empowered customer services team resolving 73% of requests on first contact and 3,000 customer accounts created within the first 6 weeks
The Outcome
Over 85% of customers who have contacted GBC since launch have successfully logged-in and now self-serve on the customer portal. Integrated telephony solutions allow for a call to come through and present the customer record to service agents, saving time and immediately presenting key information and case history.
A system that provides a 360° view of citizens
Integrated forms for transactions on both the website and via Salesforce
Faster customer service and resolution on first contact
Streamlined communications, Knowledge Base access and Case creation
Reports and dashboards provide at-a-glance views of KPI’s
Internal teams are fully engaged with the new platform and are actively suggesting new features and improvements to be delivered in future project phases.
The NimbusPoint Way and Guildford Borough Council
Our approach is to really understand the requirements, goals and underpinning issues. Based on experience, we best advise you on possible solutions and support in making the right decisions to ensure your Salesforce Project is a success. We work with integrity and open, honest communication, to support you with the knowledge you need to make informed choices about your Salesforce solution. We closely manage budget, resources, and risk identification so that you can be sure that the project stays on track and is both successful and rewarding for all involved.
NimbusPoint worked closely with Guildford Borough Council to guide the team forward throughout the project, taking the time to listen to their needs, and provide honest advice on the appropriate solutions. Using our years of experience, product knowledge and project engagement, NimbusPoint implemented Salesforce across the Guildford Borough Council service teams whilst designing capabilities for future development. NimbusPoint delivered a range of services fully tailored to meet the needs of customers and staff.
“It’s been one of the smoothest implementations we’ve had”
Emma Felgate, Business Improvement & Customer Service Manager
Quick Facts: The Challenge, Solution and Results
- Improve services and customer care
- Future-proof the organisation
- Modernise services and systems
- Make the council more efficient
- NimbusPoint proposed a comprehensive Salesforce solution and implementation
- Use “out-of-the-box” features of Salesforce Service Cloud™, Experience Cloud™ (Portal) and Field Service™ (Scheduler)
- NimbusPoint created an accessible Customer Portal to deliver an all-encompassing customer experience.
- Salesforce Mobile App allows for work to be easily passed between
teams and resolve issues without the need to return to the office/depot
- Salesforce CRM was procured and implemented in less than 12 months
- 87% conversion rate of new contacts creating online accounts
- 73% of calls answered ‘one and done’ by CSAs
- 100% increase in calls successfully handled by automated systems with call length reduced by 26%