Over 32,000 customer accounts have been created and more than £20m collected online since My Falkirk launched nearly three years ago.
That means 30% of all households in the Falkirk area have signed up to the platform, which allows residents to request and receive services online using their computer or smartphone 24/7, 365 days a year.
Around 1000 people now choose to pay and request Council services including Council Tax and school meals through My Falkirk each month.
Currently, 64 services are available via the platform with a raft of additional services, including reporting fly-tipping, applying for brown bin collections and requesting council property repairs, set to be added over the coming months.
Speaking at the Council of the Future Board in November, Paul Livingstone, Web & Digital Team Leader said his team was now sitting on a “mountain of data” that could help inform future decision making.
He said: “My Falkirk is a dynamic 24/7 beast that collects £17 per minute for the Council. My team are responsible for managing and maintaining the platform to ensure it is up and running with as little downtime as possible, and that takes a lot of time and effort.
“Thanks to the data collected by My Falkirk, and the fact the platform is fully integrated with our telephony system, we now have a better picture of our service users and how they interact with us. We can now use this mountain of data to look for meaningful patterns and use it to ensure we design services and solutions that better meet people’s needs.”
Improving customer experience
With 40% of interactions on My Falkirk taking place outside business hours, the need to modernise and improve the accessibility of services has never been more important – and that is why improving customer experience is at the heart of our Digital Strategy.
Designed to be the bedrock of our digital transformation, the strategy, which informs the work of the Digital Workstream, is built around three pillars - Leadership, Transforming Services by Design and Rock Solid Technology.
Caroline Binnie, Senior Responsible Owner of the Digital Workstream, told the board My Falkirk had a critical role to play in helping the Council meet growing demand for more services to be moved online.
She said: “Up to this point My Falkirk has grown organically and user numbers have steadily grown as a result. But as the number of services offered via the platform grows so too will the number of accounts being created, and people will become more and more dependent on it. That is why we need to make sure My Falkirk is given the importance and recognition it deserves across the whole Council because it is key to making us a genuine 24/7, 365 day a year organisation.”