Staffordshire Waste Partnership Phone Application Business Case. Staffordshire Waste Partnership. Phone Applications.

Transcription

1 Staffordshire Waste Partnership Phone Applications Business Case 1

2 Contents 1. Background Aims Objectives Approach Proposals Recommendations Stakeholders

3 1. Background Staffordshire Waste Partnership Staffordshire County Council, the eight district and borough councils of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent City Council currently deal with residents enquiries through a mixture of face to face contact, telephone call centres and website presence. New and innovative methods of reducing the cost of contact with residents are always being sought. For example, several authorities have changed to a single contact centre number to streamline the contact process and more functions, such as payments, can be carried out online through self service. Due to budget constraints councils are looking to maximise value for money, including utilising joint projects with other authorities, to benefit from economies of scale and joint procurement. Many new technologies have become widespread in their usage in recent years and there is an ever growing expectation from the general public that councils should be engaging with their residents through media such as facebook, twitter and smart phone applications. These types of media help with efforts to pass on information to demographic groups generally considered hard to reach, such as the under 25 s, students and shift workers. The Recycle for Staffordshire website is experiencing a sustained increase in mobile visitors. Comparing December 2010 to December 2011, total visitors increased by 37% (3627 to 4974), which included a mobile visitor increase of 397% (321 to 1596). This represents over 32% of all contacts for December Existing phone applications are run by several local authorities nationally for a variety of different functions from library information to paying for parking. Those relating to waste include Warwickshire and Worcestershire County Councils, which have applications allowing residents to access information on recycling centres. Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority has a phone application which integrates information from their own authority with that of collection rounds and local campaigns from the collection authorities within the area. 2. Aims To reduce the cost per contact for residents seeking recycling information To improve access to information for hard to reach residents 3. Objectives To create a smartphone application as a new joint platform for waste minimisation, reuse and recycling information across Staffordshire and Stoke. 4. Approach To assess the financial viability of a phone application 3

4 To review the following proposals and recommendations made in section 6. To establish a timetable for design of the phone application To appoint a designer 5. Proposals Phone Application Unfortunately current costs of resident contact are difficult to acquire due to the often complex nature in which costs are calculated. Some work has been done by individual authorities and SOCITM to benchmark contact costs at local and national level. Council cost per contact Source Face to face Telephone Internet Norwich Warwickshire SOCITM (2011) This broadly fits with the data that is available for Staffordshire. Authority* Face to face Telephone Internet Cannock Chase DC Breakdown of costs not available East Staffordshire BC Lichfield DC Newcastle-under-Lyme BC Breakdown of costs not available South Staffordshire DC Stafford BC Staffordshire CC Breakdown not currently available, awaiting confirmation Staffordshire Moorlands DC Stoke-on-Trent City Council Tamworth BC *Awaiting further responses to complete data. The following examines the costs associated with existing phone applications relating to waste management. 4

5 Authority Warwickshire Worcestershire Greater Manchester Company used Loud Cloud Design/set up costs Number of downloads Ongoing support costs 9, Inc. 12 months support Cost per download 4.50 In house Boxsail 6, /month 3.75 For further comparison the following table contains the set up costs of other phone applications in use by local authorities. Authority Application Design/Set up cost Bracknell Forest Coral Reef 4,400 Bracknell Forest E directory 6,700 Greenwich Destination Greenwich 5,700 Tameside Buy With Confidence 5,731 Quotes obtained for creating a Staffordshire phone application are as follows: Company** Design/Set up Quote Apphaus 4,800 Kaweb 4,000-7,000 Web-labs 3,000-4,000 **a further in-house option is available through Lichfield district council who currently offer support for the recycle for Staffordshire website. A quote is pending, but is likely to be between 2,500 and 3,500. Costs of telephone contact, existing phone applications and projected costs per contact for the new application (based on similar download numbers) can be compared as follows: Contact Method Cost Per Contact Telephone Existing Phone Applications Proposed Phone Application However it is important to consider three points: Due to the large upfront design fee, the cost per download will continue to drop as downloads increase. A phone application can be used more than once. If assumed the application was used twice, it would result in a cheaper cost than the comparable telephone contacts. Unlike the existing applications, the cost would be spread across several authorities. Assuming the approval of all 10 authorities of Staffordshire and Stoke, the projected costs would be per download for each authority based on current quotes. Based on these quotes a sum of between 3,000 and 7,000 is proposed for the work to be completed, broken down as follows: 5

6 Authority Cost range Cannock Chase DC East Staffordshire BC Lichfield DC Newcastle-under-Lyme BC South Staffordshire DC Stafford BC Staffordshire Moorlands DC Stoke-on-Trent City Council Tamworth BC Total 3,000-7,000 Mobile Website Alternatively, there is the option of procuring a mobile website rather than a phone application. This offers very similar functionality to a phone application, but with the difference that mobile websites do not require separate development for different phone models as phone applications do. Therefore a mobile website can be applied to any mobile device, whereas an application must be developed to be compatible with numerous different versions of mobile device. As a result, phone applications tend be more expensive to develop and manage than mobile websites. A mobile website would also link more closely to the existing Recycle for Staffordshire website, which may require additional features being added to the current website. Mobile phone users accessing the current website would be presented with the option to use the mobile website to allow them to view information in a format suitable to their mobile device. A single development platform also gives mobile websites the added benefit of having a single updating point. This would greatly reduce staff time required in updating the site with new information when compared to a phone application as the website and mobile website would be updated simultaneously. The following quotes have been obtained for developing a mobile website: Company*** Quote Apphaus 2,500 Kaweb 3,000-5,000 *** a further in-house option is available through Lichfield district council who currently offer support for the recycle for Staffordshire website. A quote is pending, but is likely to be between 1,500 and 2,500. These quotes can be compared to the phone application quotes as follows: Contact Method Cost Per Contact Telephone Existing Phone Applications Proposed Phone Application

7 Proposed Mobile Website After consulting the providers of the given quotes, all of whom work on both phone applications and mobile websites, the option of a mobile website has been recommended based on the needs and scope of the project. The cost would be allocated as follows: Authority Cost range Cannock Chase DC East Staffordshire BC Lichfield DC Newcastle-under-Lyme BC South Staffordshire DC Stafford BC Staffordshire Moorlands DC Stoke-on-Trent City Council Tamworth BC Total 2,500-5, Recommendations To refer this matter to the Staffordshire Waste Officer s Group To agree a preference for a mobile website based on the costs and benefits in the information presented To approve funding for a mobile website for the waste management services of Staffordshire and Stoke. 7. Stakeholders Cannock Chase District Council East Staffordshire Borough Council Lichfield District Council Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council South Staffordshire District Council Stafford Borough Council Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire Moorlands District Council Stoke-on-Trent City Council Tamworth Borough Council 7