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Central Government guidelines encouraging local authorities to present bills, account balances and account statements online (e-presentment) for services such as Council Tax are a relatively new introduction.

Progression by local authorities is good and many now offer e-presentment services and even full citizen accounts through which individuals can securely view and interrogate information relating to a number of council services, Council Tax payment history, payment plans, monies owed; Housing Benefit claims or parking fines, for example.

Local authorities that have not yet adopted e-presentment services or, local authorities that are looking to expand existing e-presentment services into full citizen accounts should look to adopt a best practice approach to both the roll-out and take-up.

Have a cost effective approach. Local authorities must think big, but start small to restrict scope for problems and reduce financial outlay. They should launch e-presentment services using a technology solution that allows a scale-up approach – from the hosting of a single online service initially to an authority wide solution over time. This will provide a low risk approach allowing the measurement of success factors along the way.

Pick off some quick wins. Having staff ‘onside’ is critical so local authorities should launch their services with quick wins in mind, i.e. web enable only those services that are certain to receive high demand, reduce administration and paper usage. For local authorities this will normally be Council Tax, Non Domestic Rates, Housing and social benefits. Other services such as parking and licensing are also candidates for delivering a more efficient and effective service online.

Use a hosted service. Using a hosted service is an ideal way of reducing risk and managing cost associated with implementation. Deploying a hosted service ensures:

• Rapid implementation
• Easy roll-out to new registrations and applications
• No upfront hardware or infrastructure costs
• 24/7 availability
• Scalability against number of registrations and applications
• Business continuity: latest security, fail-over and back-up systems
• Avoidance of technical obsolescence

Give confidence to all parties that information stored and transmitted is secure. Local authorities must ensure the consumer accessing an online service is properly authenticated. The potential for ID theft is a very real possibility. As more and more services are web-enabled for e–presentment so the information about the consumer available on the internet increases.

When a consumer wishes to deal with the council online, he or she must be authenticated and issued with a PIN by which to access their information. This PIN and access to the site is only provided once the consumer is verified via email and post.

128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protection for encrypting information and providing authentication must be in place; secure file transfers, anti-phishing measures and time-out facilities must all be included on sites. To present personal consumer information a local authority website must carry the same security measures as that of a financial institution or bank.

Adopt a proven solution. Local authorities should implement only those technology solutions that have a solid footprint with local authority references. This ensures a ‘lessons learnt’ approach which is geared towards minimising risk and cost whilst adhering to best practice.

Common sense links. Local authorities must move towards promoting ‘pay here’ and ‘view account’ links attached to the individual services available. For example, a ‘pay here’ or ‘view account’ button should be available when a citizen accesses the leisure services section, again when they access the Council Tax section and again when they access the parking fines section.

Looking at adoption marketing techniques. Incentives are invaluable to drive take-up, look at cost effective channels to market the service:

- Segment the customer base and proactively market to them Direct debit payers for example may have a higher propensity to access online services as opposed to people currently paying in person

- Promote online services in local consumer hotspots, on local buses or in local magazines for example

- Up sell to consumers. Once a local authority has a consumer’s interest in viewing account information for a single service online it is essential to up sell additional services, for example bookings, sundry debtors or waste collection.

- Local authorities should look at where the majority of its website hits are being secured and promote new services in these areas. It is also possible to promote new services via local authority telephone answering services, to capture people as they wait for the contact centre. The annual Council Tax bill is also a solid touch point with consumers and a useful place to advertise online services.

Measurement. Local authorities must measure how many people are signing up, how often and when. A good hosted technology solution will offer this service as part of the package. This will allow local authority leaders to adjust, improve and enhance its online services.

Regularly communicate with early adopters. Local authorities should ensure that Terms & Conditions are such that it allows the authority to promote changes and improvements to its service and consumer accounts. It should also be possible to proactively promote new services as local authorities working through the scale-up approach.

By following best practice it is possible for local authorities to make a success of e-presentment services. Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&ANES) and London Borough of Hackney Council are both exceeding the recognised industry success marker of 2 per cent take up figure over 12 months. Royal Borough of Kingston Council has achieved nearly 5 per cent take-up.

The adoption of online services, payment and procurement within the private sector continues to grow unabated. This should provide Local Government with the impetus to continue to market appropriate services in the right manner to citizens. If they do this, e-presentment can be a success and more and more citizens will benefit from the added advantages of an online environment.

Rob DeFelice,

Gandlake Limited