Customer First
Customer First is a Scottish Government sponsored programme developed in partnership with all 32 Scottish local authorities. It is managed, with the support of COSLA and SOLACE, under the direction of the Improvement Service (IS). It aims to deliver 'first time' public services by re-designing them around customers' needs.
The programme supports the principles of: easier to access, better integrated, local services; effective collaboration across the public sector; better use of public resources; high standards of public service; and willingness to innovate and learn from others.
The programme also underpins the Scottish Government's commitment to work in partnership with Scotland's local authorities to:
- deliver more convenient and responsive public services;
- encourage the take up of of online access to services;
- ensure that at least 75% of core service requests can be dealt with at the first point of contact.
The Customer First Programme has now delivered the following key elements:
- A National ICT Infrastructure which supports joined up/shared services across Scottish local government as well as the wider public sector.
- A National Entitlement Card and a Scottish public sector Card Management System.
- A National Gazetteer for Scotland which provides an accurate, up to date database of land and property data/assets for all Scottish councils and also for other parts of the public sector.
- A Citizen Account System which allows councils to keep accurate, up to date, records of their customers.
- A National CRM solution, which together with councils back office integration processes, delivers a single point of contact for the first time delivery of public services.
