Case Study: Wokingham Council Lower Costs With Netcall

Challenges

Wokingham Borough Council serves an affluent demographic in Berkshire.

Receiving minimal government grants means that the council must “run even leaner” whilst delivering digital services to the borough’s residents, a high proportion of which work in tech sectors and expect digital services comparable to well-known brands.

The Council’s legacy CRM platform presented several challenges, including high licensing costs which made expansion cost prohibitive.

As a result, the Council were keen to move to a low-code platform that both represented value for money and enabled the creation of user-friendly digital services.

Resource constraints were another major issue, as the Council struggled to retain skilled developers for that platform, as their skills led to them being lured to other opportunities. The platform’s limited agility also hindered quick service delivery, with complex development processes slowing down innovation.

Wokingham’s market evaluation showed that Netcall’s Liberty platform delivered a more compelling business case over their existing suppliers.

As a unified platform that brings together low-code, workflow automation, AI and RPA, Liberty would allow the Council to transform services end-to-end.

The cost-effective licensing model was far more economical than paying per user. Plus, Netcall’s low-code capabilities would enable the internal team to upskill and avoid the need for expensive specialist developers.

The strong community support, which provides access to a local government peer network, was a key advantage. And Wokingham already had an established, trusted 15-year partnership with Netcall through their contact centre solution.

The Solution

Wokingham began by migrating core processes from its CRM to Citizen Hub, Netcall’s low-code workflow automation and citizen engagement platform. Initial services included waste management, garden waste, highway maintenance requests, general enquiries and blue badge applications.

The council has focused on replacing existing systems with low-code applications to improve processes and reduce licence costs, including developing an HR CRM system for internal support tickets and HR integrations.

Its four-person development team has embraced the platform, enabling faster development from concept to deployment and removing the need for specialist developers.

Citizen Hub provides a consistent, easy-to-use interface across council services, helping drive greater digital adoption.

The Council also integrated Netcall online forms with its customer satisfaction tool to monitor usage and satisfaction levels.

After upgrading to the latest version of Liberty Converse, Wokingham is further transforming service delivery through omnichannel journeys, automation and AI-powered responses to extend service availability beyond office hours. The council also plans to deploy AI virtual assistants for both citizens and staff.

Next, Wokingham is implementing Liberty RPA to reduce manual administration by automating processes such as populating third-party systems from emails and web forms, as well as streamlining internal onboarding processes.

The Council also uses Liberty Spark to analyse and redesign processes, helping teams identify automation opportunities before building them in low-code, while exploring Govtech solutions to modernize Revenues & Benefits services.

The Results

“Liberty puts us in control, enabling us to join up our contact centre and CRM with low-code to continually improve our customer journeys.

With the proven RPA, AI and process improvement solutions at our fingertips we are in the driving seat to make our best ideas a reality – at speed and scale.

The Liberty platform is like a tech Swiss army knife – we can play it into different situations and achieve the efficiencies that we’re looking for,” said Glynn Davies, Service Director – Data & Technology, Wokingham Borough Council.

• £218k Lower cost of ownership compared to the previous CRM
• 10 x Faster development cycles – moved from concept to deployment in days rather than weeks or months
• 24/7 Availability with AI automation extending beyond traditional office hours
• Reduced dependency, empowering non-technical staff to build and own processes using Netcall’s cost-effective development resource, reducing contractor spend
• Replaced legacy – street cleansing system delivers better user experience, supports digital channel shift and contributes to app rationalization strategy
• 90% Renew online – fully automated garden waste subscriptions, which previously required physical visits to shops/libraries to purchase
• Channel choice – for citizens, without adding extra demand on council resources
• Operational efficiency – reduced 10k HR emails per month via fully automated system, freeing staff for high-value work and saving £40k
• Streamlined processes – automated alcohol and tobacco licensing process, previously fully manual, contributing to £150k savings
• Reduced manual handling and administrative burdens on staff, leading to improved staff utilization
• Better staff retention – team members love working with the product, resulting in a low churn rate

This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of Netcall – View the Original Article

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About Netcall

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Author: Netcall
Reviewed by: Megan Jones