Council encouraged to embrace Internet to offer services

A council has been told that it needs to start embracing the Internet in order to promote services and interact with customers to save the council money and to ensure that it was keeping up with the times.

As the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pointed out on a number of occasions recently the Internet has become an important part of the delivery of government services and access to government resources, and with the proposed rollout of universal broadband the Labour party is hoping that a rising number of people will star to use the Internet to access government information and services over the coming years.

It has now been revealed that a council has been told to get with the times and start using the Internet to interact with customers as well as promote services. Marketing officials have told Breckland councillors that the council needs to start using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to interact with customers. Officials believe that this would help to improve customer relations and save the council money.

According to reports the council could save over forty thousand pounds simply by using the Internet and networking sites to interact with customers, whilst at the same time making services more accessible and improving customer relations. However, the council website also needs to be updated, which will cost close to forty thousand pounds. Officials believe that this would quickly be recouped through consumers using online services.

One official said: “The website is difficult to use and looks dated. We know there is a problem with the website but this is one of the primary ways the council can save cash. If you can divert 3,000 people away from talking to officers face-to-face, and instead make them feel comfortable dealing online, it saves the council £40,050.”

Source – Dereham Times