Newport City Council has been recognised for transforming the way it delivers its services and has been shortlisted in the prestigious Municipal Journal 2015 awards category of innovation in channel shift.

More people are now using the council’s online services than the more traditional ways of contacting the council such as through its contact centre or face to face. This is as a result of the changes the council has made to its website as well as increasing the availability of online services.

In fact such has been the council’s impact that it has achieved its ambitious targets two years early.

In 2012, 75 per cent of customer contact with the council completed via a mediated channel and just 25 per cent through self-service. The council’s aim was within five years to have 45 per cent of transactions completed via self-service. The council has broken this target two years early with 53 per cent now accessing self-service channels – eight per cent more than the target that was set.

With advancements in technology and more homes now being able to access broadband, there was an expectation that council services would be online and available 24/7.

Alongside this, the council also considered how it could use customer insight data and how this important information could meet the demands of the digital age. This was not just about online access but also automated phone lines and self-service payment machines.