I visited the  council  contact centre in St Ives. It is modern, well supported by effective software and led by a couple of managers who understand the difference between just answering phones and fulfilment of need. I also bumped into an old colleague from my MOD days. We pulled up a sandbag and had a chat  about the “good old days”. Funny how time improves the memories.

The centre deals with a range of services from children’s services, adult social care, highways, blue badges and much more. I had a great discussion about using the information collected in the contact centre to better shape how our services provide assistance. For example we could provide even more self help information on our website for the most often asked questions into the contact centre.

I am  keen to use this intelligence even more effectively to improve efficiency and to provide a better service to the folk of Cambridgeshire. My feeling is their is a lot more potential here.