A discovery to determine the optimal telephony solution(s) to meet user needs

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done The Council’s existing telephony contract is coming to an end. It has four elements: mobile phones, desk phones (Nfon / Cloudya), contact centre (Puzzel) and voice-activated switchboard (Netcall). We want to ensure we identify the right technology for the next contract (excluding mobile telephony where we have identified an alternative arrangement). There are four objectives we’re seeking to achieve over the next contract: Greater automation: supporting self-service journeys where appropriate and consistent multi-channel experiences More personalisation for residents making multiple contacts Efficient end-to-end journeys - particularly when contact needs to be referred to the back office Sustainable cost We are currently experimenting with webchat (Tawk) and Amazon Connect. We want to identify the right technology / partners that reflects the government’s Code of Practice and support meeting the Service Standard. Problem to Be Solved The existing contract was purchased through a re-seller and we believe it’s now possible to get better value. Whilst precise costs aren’t identifiable, it costs in the region of £250,000 per annum. The telephony solution has been surprisingly unreliable with regular small outages and one large outage roughly each year. Issues are sufficiently opaque that we’re not clear what is the root cause. We haven’t been able to innovate the contact centre offer by using the existing technology which creates challenges for workforce management. Simple tasks, like setting up a new line, can take several days to be completed. Every desk currently has a handset rather than a soft phone. Home working has highlighted reliability issues with Cloudya and the Nfon mobile app is too poor quality to enable people to work from anywhere. The lack of a clear ‘presence’ feature makes it harder to support end-to-end customer journeys when a query requires support from the back office. A successful engagement will provide: - An objective assessment of the options against the Code of Practice - A model for understanding the costs associated with the recommended approach - An analysis of the skills required to maximise the recommended approach Who Are the Users As a resident I want to phone the council with a query so that I can get my problem resolved in the channel of my choice As a member of contact centre staff I need to receive, transfer, and make phone calls to residents and other members of staff As member of staff I need to be able to receive, transfer, and make phone calls without revealing my personal mobile number so that I can work from anywhere As a member of a back office team supporting residents I need to be able to receive calls during working hours so that we can meet demand As a contact centre manager I need to be able to track, manage and quality assess the calls that we handle so that i can continually improve my service to residents As an ICT support team I need to easily configure the telephony system so that I can deliver a good service to my colleagues Early Market Engagement The brief for the pilot of Amazon Connect is available: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S3MRdGflX-M-mR1FliAtc8IXJ5LlNDY7yiinsq4UUWw/edit The weeknotes for the project are at https://blogs.hackney.gov.uk/hackit/projectweeknotes Work Already Done Existing Team We do not anticipate providing a dedicated team to support this work but the team can draw on the ICT infrastructure and applications teams; contact centre managers and back office support teams as required. Current Phase Live Work Location None Working Arrangments The work can take place remotely but the team will be expected to write weeknotes and a regular show & tell to engage key teams Security Clearance Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Demonstrate experience of assessing software against the principles in the government’s technology code of practice and/or the Service Standard Demonstrate a track-record of user-centred design and Agile approaches to delivery Demonstrate their understanding of one or more leading telephony solutions Share their work freely and openly with the Council and the wider community Demonstrate a track record of successful capability building with internal teams Be vendor-agnostic - eg. Not tied to any one particular software solution Nice to Haves Demonstrate an understanding of Hackney’s technology strategy Have experience of working in local government No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria Understanding of user needs from the service Clarity of the approach Experience from a similar project Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service Hackney Council is a diverse organisation, reflecting the diversity of our borough. Describe how you would successfully work as a team with Hackney and other suppliers in a diverse environment. Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 5% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range we anticipate spending c. £30-40,000 excluding vat.