Introduction: Cardiff’s ambitious plans

Cardiff Council has ambitious plans to provide an improved, digital customer experience for those visiting any of their 19 customer service Hubs across the city. Cardiff’s customer service digital transformation began shortly before COVID19, meaning that the shift to digital self-service came about at a poignant time where many people were required to self-serve for a range of services, inside and outside of the local authority. Looking Local worked with Cardiff Council to provide the city with ScanStations, a digital self-serve document evidencing solution. Cardiff initially implemented ScanStation
at their Central Library Hub, and subsequently rolled out the solution to all of their Customer Service Hubs.

Cardiff Council chose ScanStation to reduce substantial queues at their Hubs and to offer an improved, more efficient service for their customers. Outside of efficiency savings, ScanStation will provide the council with a safer alternative to traditional scanning, where there is reduced face-to-face contact and staff required to handle fewer documents.

The challenge: from manual to digital

CARDIFF’S MANUAL PAPER-BASED PROCESSES WERE NOT ADEQUATE TO
DEAL WITH THEIR VISITOR NUMBERS AND RISING SERVICE EXPECTATIONS.

Cardiff faced the issue of long queues and substantial waiting times for their customers. With monthly visitors to the
Central Library Hub averaging 23,000 pre-pandemic, their manual paperbased processes were not adequate to deal with their visitor numbers and rising service expectations, leading to an expected waiting time of 50 minutes.

Cardiff Council began their digital transformation process in 2019, using floor walkers with tablets to offer bus pass renewals via digital applications. Thousands of customers came to renew their pass in the first week of the bus pass change, going digital allowed staff to take customers out of the long queues and quickly deal with their application.
Staff saw the positive impact of a digital service during this time.

Cardiff’s next challenge was to sustainably replicate this efficient digital system to cater to a larger portion of their visitors, a lot of whom were visiting the Hub to provide evidence for a range of Council services. Cardiff’s existing document evidence service consisted of staff using a scanner to process each document. This manual system provided Cardiff with slow delivery times and much like their bus pass renewal system, this setup was clearly an efficiency issue that
could be resolved by putting a digital service in place.

Solution: digital transformation

CARDIFF EMBARKED ON THEIR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A MORE EFFICIENT SERVICE.

Cardiff partnered with Looking Local and chose ScanStation to provide efficiency savings across the city and reduce the demand on an overstretched service. ScanStations were first introduced at the Central Library Hub in January 2020.

ScanStation is a Customer Service Centre solution, combining bespoke furniture and WiFi connected tablets – ensuring quality images are produced every time. The solution takes the pressure off Customer Service staff, who have the unsustainable task of processing thousands of transactions. The ScanStation app is connected to Cardiff’s back-office system (Civica W360), making it a seamless end-to-end solution for the staff, allowing them to focus on more complex
or vulnerable customers.

Initially Cardiff drove digital uptake from citizens with their floor walker staff, who would identify those who could quickly
use ScanStation and those who needed to remain queuing. Alongside this, Cardiff launched a campaign to promote self-service which included posters, videos and adverts across social media. As well as this, ScanStation takeup came organically – customers began to notice that those using the solution were able to complete their transaction within
a couple of minutes, a stark contrast to the previous manual process, with a normal wait time of almost an hour.

“WHY WAIT 50 MINUTES, WHEN YOU CAN BE DONE IN 2?”

The council were able to shift digital channels without disrupting day-today operations by training their staff to become experts with ScanStation. Staff supported customers with limited digital knowledge, meaning that every customer was able to enjoy the efficient new service.

Cardiff’s promotional material:

Impact

Due to having ScanStations in place a couple of months prior to the pandemic, the greatest impact for Cardiff has been achieved through their ability to keep their Hubs open (on an appointment-only basis) throughout lockdown, leading to minimal disruption to their services. Additionally, Cardiff had already established their customers with self-service and were
comfortable with it when the pandemic began, leading to a smoother transition to a self-service only function required throughout lockdown.

Using ScanStations enabled Cardiff to continue providing this vital service – the self-scan tool meant the health and safety of both customers and staff was paramount. At their Central Hub, Cardiff moved their ScanStations downstairs to
refrain from having customers walk around the Hub, they created a one way system and had everything in one, easily accessible place. Cardiff used signage and graphics to guide customers through the Hub and to ensure distance was
kept.

“FINALLY SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN JUST POP FOR A MINUTE AND SORT OUT EVERYTHING”

Internal feedback has been positive, Cardiff did not have any issue with getting staff on board with the technology – staff were keen to use ScanStation as they could see how quickly customers were processing their transactions. The ‘digital-first’ culture has provided staff with more interesting and varied roles within the Hub.

Future potential: Cardiff’s ambitious plans

Cardiff has sustained this new approach by implementing ScanStations across their 19 different Hubs – ensuring that customers were getting the highest level of service, no matter which Hub they entered.

Looking ahead, Cardiff Council are eager to continue their digital transformation process at their Hubs. Their priority is to expand their services whilst ensuring that any citizens who are not digitally upskilled maintain access.

Cardiff’s next plan with ScanStation is to roll out the MyScan module. MyScan will provide customers with the option to scan their document evidence from home or on-the-go. This webbased app can be accessed by any mobile device with a browser and provides even less reliance on Hubs, making it more efficient for both council and customers. MyScan provides customers with an identical user experience to ScanStation, meaning those that have used the ScanStation technology in the Hubs over the last 18 months should find it a smooth transition to use the same technology from their own device.

“IT’S GREAT TO KNOW THAT I CAN PROVIDE THE DOCUMENTS WITHOUT WAITING TO BE SEEN”

A closer look: Ely & Caerau Hub

Prior to the pandemic, the Ely & Caerau Hub was the second busiest hub after Central Library, with a footfall of 18,742 in February 2020. Ely & Caerau Hub have 3 ScanStations and chose to provide telephone services next to their ScanStations so that all services could be available to the customer in one place. With the strict Covid restrictions in place, their footfall has dropped significantly and now averages around 3,600 people monthly.

The Hub is running much smaller groups, which require booking in advance and all of their services are on an appointment only basis. Due to the restricted access many of the rooms have changed purpose, providing new socially-distanced options for customers.

Many of their events have been digitised and are available via the Cardiff Council website. With a new digital reach, the Hub found they were engaging with people that they never had before – they started Facebook Live events for crafts, cooking and storytimes and much more.

Due to the hardships many have faced during the pandemic, the Hub repurposed one of their community rooms into a foodbank. Off the back of calls to the advice line, volunteers work everyday packing and delivering food parcels to those in need. This new foodbank has been a lifeline for those whose circumstances may have changed, are in need and for those who are isolating.

A closer look: St Mellons Hub

St Mellons Hub opened in September 2018, making it one of the newest Hubs in Cardiff. The Hub has taken more of a community approach, with impressive facilities such as a music studio, dance hall, youth centre and sports hall. As with all of the Hubs around Cardiff, St Mellons footfall dropped significantly, from 14,019 in February 2020 to 2,695 in May 2021.

Similarly to Ely & Caerau, there are 3 ScanStations at St Mellons Hub. Staff at the Hub have said that the pandemic helped to change people’s mindsets and was a great accelerator in getting people to be digital-first. Even customers who were happy with the existing process acknowledged that digital self-serve solutions were providing safer alternatives during lockdown.

St Mellons Hub is beginning to get a little busier as restrictions ease, although it is far from returning to the pre-pandemic normality. Digital services across the Cardiff website have provided customers with at-home, digital alternatives for many who are not ready to return.