Developing a CX Strategy to place the customer at the heart Sutherland Shire Council​

Challenge

As customer expectations continually evolve, it has become increasingly important for Local Councils to evolve and adapt to meet the changing needs of customers and the community. With a growing populous, shifting economic environment, and leaps in technology, Sutherland Shire Council (SSC) wanted to ensure it could deliver positive experiences that meet customer expectations now and into the future. In 2023, SSC launched a new project to develop a bold vision, a customer experience (CX) strategy and an implementation roadmap as part of its commitment to the Sutherland Shire community. The Strategy Group partnered with Sutherland Shire Council to support the organisation in its transformational journey to put the customer at the heart of the organisation. ​

Approach

Putting the customer at the centre of the organisation with a focus on co-creation and robust CX research​

The project involved assessing and understanding the current state CX in terms of the Council’s capabilities and culture to deliver an exceptional CX from both an internal and external perspective. The scope of the first project phase was to co-create a vision for the Council’s future-state CX and conduct qualitative and quantitative research with Council staff and customers to achieve the following objectives:​

• Develop a bold CX Vision and guiding principles​
• Gain a holistic view of Council’s CX capabilities and maturity, and assess the main gaps to close​
• Deliver a robust report and framework to inform the CX strategy and roadmap​

The second phase of the project leveraged the report and insights from the research to develop a robust CX Strategy through consultations and workshops involving key stakeholders and leaders across Council​.

Outcomes

Developing a CX Strategy that aligns with customer expectations and builds long term trust with the community​

​The key deliverables included:​

• CX Research Report: Co-created by The Strategy Group and SSC leaders and endorsed and confirmed by SSC staff and customers research, the CX Vision and principles set the foundation for the ideal state and how Council gets there.​
• CX Maturity Benchmark: The Strategy Group employed its proprietary CX Maturity Assessment to benchmark Council’s ability to deliver an exceptional CX and its customer-centricity as an organisation to highlight strengths and weaknesses to address.​
• CX Strategy: The CX Vision, principles, goals, initiatives, metrics, requirements and owners for to implement the strategy successfully and transform the culture of Council and better meet the needs of a growing community​

​The project delivered transformative results:​

• Endorsed strategy aligned with community expectations​
• Clear implementation pathway for Council leadership​
• Framework for building long-term community trust​
• Enhanced organisational capability to deliver exceptional customer experiences​