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  • Success Story
  • Cranbrook, BC

How Cranbrook, BC Improved Customer Service and Added Internal Efficiencies with a Government CRM

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Overview

Nestled in the southeast side of British Colombia, Canada lies the scenic mountain city of Cranbrook. The city, home to a population of about 19,000 residents, was looking for an improved communication platform to better interact with citizens as part of a citywide 311 call center initiative. In the quest to improve communications and service request resolution time, the city partnered with Granicus to administer a government SRM (service request manager) with mobile-app integrations that allows residents to easily submit public service requests through the app. The results improved engagement, customer service, and faster service request resolution time and added efficiency to internal processes.

Metrics

  • 3+ hours a day given back to managers thanks to service request routing
  • 36% improvement  in service request resolution time
  • 20% of service requests  received from mobile devices
  • 2,000 approximate  service requests per year
Must have Granicus Solutions
Situation

Manual and Time-Consuming 311 Process

For public sectors, 311 call centers are notorious for taking a high volume of calls that largely consist of residents reporting service requests like broken streetlights, pothole repairs, graffiti, etc. Before implementing the new communication platform, the city of Cranbrook was using a 311 process that was both time-consuming and burdensome to city staff. The only way citizens could submit service requests was by calling a standard, non-311 number, then call-takers would add requests manually. The process often led to confusion between city departments and long hours spent on the phone transferring information. The tedious process made it difficult for city employees to complete requests.

“We’d have a light out, and we would try to take a description from the caller of exactly where that light is. And we were forever sending out electricians to the wrong light, or to troubleshoot the wrong area.”
Tony Hetu, Deputy Director of Public Works
Solution

Shifting to Modern Resident Engagement via App

The city partnered with Granicus to implement a mobile resident request solution for community members and staff. Branded as “Cranbrook 311,” the free app (available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store) functions as a real-time engagement platform for residents to submit public service requests and connect with community resources. The two-way transfer of information brings all mobile service requests into the city’s existing workflow and connects directly with Cityworks, Cranbrook’s asset management system.

“Granicus helped us solve the mobile challenge. It connects with and populates our service request system without having to use a VPN for security. It helped us avoid that extra layer of security and simplified the system to avoid long-term IT involvement.”
Tony Hetu, Deputy Director of Public Works
Results

Improved Customer Service, Better Prioritization of Service Requests

After the implementation of the customizable mobile app, the city saw wins with the citizen engagement platform that exceeded its original goals for improved citizen customer service. The Cranbrook 311 app was able to help “close the loop” for community service requests, as the app provides status updates to the requester until the request is processed and resolved. The city was able to streamline and prioritize service requests more efficiently because the transfer of information is automated and more detailed.

“The fact that we get a photo, description, and exact GPS location with every request submitted in the app makes us more efficient. That’s where we’ve saved a lot of time and have been able to prioritize those resources elsewhere in the city.”
Tony Hetu, Deputy Director of Public Works

Internally, the city’s 311 staff saw their time on the phone drop from approximately four hours a day to one because of the automated process that sorts requests and sends them to the right department head. Further, using a single tool across departments allows the city of Cranbrook to work as one and use a unified system and process.

“The app helped us bring other departments, like bylaws and community services, together into our 311 processes so we were all using the same system. That was a positive change for us.”
Tony Hetu, Deputy Director of Public Works
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