Customer service in local government : an Australian experience

In the public sector there are frequently no competitors for the services offered which means that consumers are not free to choose alternate service provider. This paper presents an exploratory case study of a Melbourne local government that sought to improve its customer contact. The absence of thorough service performance measurement data was a major impediment in this case. The lack of data meant that identifying areas to focus improvement efforts on was difficult. To address the issue of customer contact expediently, semi-structured interviews were undertaken internally with 46 key customer service staff. This paper describes the research project, its findings and recommendations to senior management.