Experience sharing workshop Realising the Efficiency gains from your epayments investment

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Experience sharing workshop- Realising the
Efficiency gains from your e-payments investment

• 12h July 2005

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Specific aims

• Understand how e-Payments can help you deliver
  Gershon and other e-government targets
• See how the e-Pay Calculator can be used to
  calculate benefits from e-payments
• Explore the relationship between cashable savings
  and enhanced service delivery
• See examples of how you can realise benefits
• Know where to go for more information on the
  e-Pay calculator and benefits realisation

Should be particularly relevant if you have
already implemented e-payments and are looking
to measure/find benefits
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What would you like to get out of this session?

• Which areas are of particular interest?
• Your key issues now?

e-Pay Calculator
e-Pay and targets
Benefits Realisation
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Three key areas to cover today
e-Pay Calculator
e-Pay and targets
Benefits realisation
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How e-Pay can help you deliver Gershon
Achieving Savings
Integral to the 2.5

• Benefits realisation
• e-Pay calculator

Reporting Savings
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Good news e-Pay and Gershon

• Encouraged to take a structured approach to
  benefits realisation and do AES with limited
  extra effort
• The e-Pay calculator is a good way to start
  assessing benefits
• e-Payments toolkit provides many real-life
  examples of benefits realisation
• e-Payment implementation should lead to
  efficiency gains that can be reported against all
  Gershon categories. ..

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How e-Pay can help you deliver Gershon
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How e-Pay can help you deliver Gershon
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Where are the savings found
Strategic Investment (e-Payments system)
Inputs
Lot more from a little more
Outputs
Little less from a lot less
More from less
Strategic Cost-Cutting (closing cash offices?)
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How e-Pay supports other e-government reporting
targets - PSTOs
Guidance and examples around citizen trust and
confidence
R10 public trust and confidence in e-payment
solutions
Intermediaries on EBPP, school meals portal,
planning portal
R11 delivery of added value around online
payments and G11 registration for e-billing
G10 demonstration of efficiency savings and
improved collection rates and E10 agreed
baseline and targets for reduction in unit costs
of payment transactions
e-Pay Calculator
E8 facilities for making card payment via SMS
for parking fines
Intermediaries background on m-payment solutions
for parking
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Maximise impact by

• Primary focus on own strategic needs
• Go back to tick boxes where necessary

PSTO
e-payments strategy
PSTOs
BVPI 157
PSTO
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Questions, comments?
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Three key areas to cover today
e-Pay Calculator
e-Pay and targets
Benefits realisation
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Benefits Realisation Key messages
Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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Top areas for savings
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How you can build up efficiency savings
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Benefits Realisation Key messages
Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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Make strategic choices

• Many Authorities have been taking benefits from
  e-pay as service improvements not cashable
  benefits
• First step is to identify win-wins vs. strategic
  choices

Win-wins
Customer
Council
Rolling out e-payment channels
Offering convenient and accessible ways of paying
the Council
Increase in collection rate
Strategic Choices
Customer
Council
Decreasing volumes in cash offices leading to
cash office closure
May prefer to pay in cash office
Substantial savings
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Strategic choices cash offices

• e-Payments implementation typically reduces
  volume through cash office
• There are three ways of taking the benefit

Customer service improvement
Mix service improvement/cashable benefits
Significant cashable benefits
Keep all staff and reduce queues
Reduce some staff, take on new tasks, stop taking
cash, and reduction in queues
Cash office closures (perhaps offer customers to
pay via payment networks)
Key is to ensure decision on how benefits used
is an explicit decision (not one made by default)
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Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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Process areas to examine

• Understanding
• We broke the payment process down into four parts

Cash offices
Customer contact
Query resolution
Reconciliation

• Examine how e-payments affect each of these
  areas
• New tasks?
• Staff requirements?
• Technical integration (e-payments are not
  discrete)

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Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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Getting to efficiency savings through promoting
take-up
How many citizens do you need to convert from
paying Council Tax in cash offices to Direct
debit to see a return on a 10,000 marketing
spend?
?
Answer 575 individuals
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So why dont you.

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Inexpensive and high-impact ways to promote e-pay
take-up

• Leaflet mailings
• Put information on the back of bills and
  envelopes
• Train front line staff to push e-payment services
• Use the Council newsletter
• Email signature function
• Homepage button
• ATP first option for callers
• Enhance DD through multiple dates/ 12 mths of
  payments

e-Pay
Your Council vehicles?
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Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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Building buy-in

• Be upfront about how e-payments will affect staff
• Communicate benefits throughout authority to
  staff at all levels who are involved in
  e-payments
• Feed back success stories to staff

Communicate

• Set up a multi-departmental e-pay project board
• Get services to contribute to the e-payment
  implementation costs
• Train and consult staff regularly
• Encourage some healthy in-house rivalry

Involve
Beware of peoples sensitivities around change!
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Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain the momentum
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From measurement to benefit
FTE Savings
Efficiency
Understand what you are measuring
Baseline your position
Other Savings
Increased Revenue
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Measurement top tips

• Simplicity
• Set baselines
• Schedule
• See-through process
• Share in success
• Scrutinise
• Sources
• Scavenge
• Small Savings

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Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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Link benefits assessment to Gershon planning
Dont let the reporting requirement tail wag the
strategy dog!

• By adopting a corporate approach to e-payment you
  will be able to

• Benefits realisation requires you to

• Measure
• Set baselines and targets
• Maximise your savings

• Report against Gershon without having to spend
  lots of time
• Make Gershon directly relevant to your
  organisation

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Make explicit decisions
Look across whole process /authority
Promote take-up to get benefits
Dont forget to build buy-in with staff
Good measurement is key
Link benefits assessment to Gershon
Maintain a momentum
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e-Payments are not discrete
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Taking e-payments further
Pre-payments
Why?
How?

• The financial benefits
• Not raising invoices
• Not chasing invoices
• Reduce bad debt
• Improves cash flow
• Customer services benefits
• Choice of services

• Assess your services Direct Debit vs.
  pre-payments
• Technical integration
• e-Forms
• CRM

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Three key areas to cover today
e-Pay Calculator
e-Pay and targets
Benefits realisation
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How to assess benefits e-Pay calculator

• The e-Pay calculator allows you to
• Assess tangible and intangible benefits in a
  consistent format
• and in a Gershon-friendly way
• View benefits by channel and by service under
  any scenario you want
• Get a quick, accurate answer by entering just
  three inputs
• Or tailor any of the other fifty variables to
  suit your Local Authoritys circumstances
• Gives quantitative and qualitative outputs

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How Authorities have used the calculator

• The e-Pay calculator has been used by Local
  Authorities to
• Fill in IEG4 section 6
• Forecast Gershon savings
• Plan and adapt access channel strategies
• Communicate benefits internally and externally
• Challenge preconceptions and highlight issues

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Benefits of the e-Pay calculator

• is not
• a perfect representation of the real world
• a guarantee of realising benefits
• an out-of-the-box solution

• It is...
• a tool for calculating financial benefits
• a stimulus for data collection
• a means of justifying and targeting investment
• an effective communication tool
• an aid to setting targets
• a step towards Gershon

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How the e-Pay calculator was built
Feedback
e-Pay Calculator
Feedback
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So how does the Calculator work?
Calculator builds up the costs per transaction
for each channel
COSTS
MEASURE OF CHANNEL
TAKE UP
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Methodology and Calculation

• compares the costs of the e-Pay scenario with
  the costs of not moving to e-payment solutions.

Base Case Cash Office Post Direct Debit
e-Pay Scenario
Operational Benefit
-

Additional Benefits Reduced Interaction Collection
Rate Cashflow
Total Benefits
Operational Benefit


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Outputs - Total benefits
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Outputs - Cost over time by channel
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Cashable and non-cashable benefits
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Stage 1 Transaction Profile
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Example input e-Channel selection
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Stage 3 Alternative Channels
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Stage 4 Additional Benefits
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Assumptions Monitor
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What about service delivery?

• E-Pay calculator can analyse non-financial
  benefits
• Convenience for the citizen
• Transparency for the citizen
• Quality of service for the citizen
• Take-up by the citizen
• Internal effectiveness
• Strategic fit

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Non-financial Benefits
Mobile phone
Kiosk
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Where next e-Pay calculator

• Toolkit www.e-payments.org.uk
• Online e-Pay calculator (base version)
• Downloadable Excel spreadsheets (for more detail)
• Versions for Unitaries, Counties and Districts
• Also user manual

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Questions, comments?
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Some ideas to take away

• Are you?
• Offering pre-payments
• Renegotiating your banking charges
• Using email receipts
• Managing reconciliation (e.g. chargebacks )
• Getting front-line staff to sell e-Pay
• Measuring

Much more in the e-Pay toolkit
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Where next realising benefits
Toolkit www.e-payments.org.uk
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Contact details

• Toolkit www.e-payments.org.uk
• E info_at_localegovnp.org.uk
• 0870 777 0011
• Julian Hubbersgilt
• julian.hubbersgilt_at_lbhf.gov.uk
• Rikard Lindquist
• 020 7233 0608
• RikardLindquist_at_rseconsulting.co.uk
• www.rseconsulting.co.uk