Warwickshire County Council

The Customer

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) is an upper-tier local authority in England delivering hundreds of services to its residents, from education and roads to social care and fire and rescue. With approximately 5,500 employees, the Council is dedicated to making Warwickshire the best it can be, open for business and growth, and providing jobs and prosperity.

As part of its ongoing commitment to digital transformation, WCC embarked on a journey to modernise its customer engagement platform, ensuring residents could access council services seamlessly and efficiently. Partnering with Hitachi Solutions, the council looked to create a user-friendly, integrated system designed to enhance accessibility, responsiveness and overall service delivery.

The Challenge

With twelve distinct business areas – each with its own unique service offerings – WCC required a centralised, modern solution to streamline operations and improve the customer experience. Without a unified view of the customer, it was difficult to accurately assess demand, streamline processes, or introduce automation at scale. The challenge was clear: WCC needed an integrated platform that would enable residents to report issues, submit applications, track progress, and make payments online, thereby enhancing overall accessibility.

The Solution

Hitachi Solutions partnered with WCC to co-develop a new customer platform built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and key tools from the Microsoft Azure Cloud ecosystem. The main objective WCC wanted to achieve with this solution was to increase the number of digital services its residents could use and make it easier for them to access the information they were looking for. This solution helped consolidate council services onto a single, integrated platform, with a streamlined and user-friendly experience.

The project was delivered in carefully structured phases to ensure a seamless transition. The first phase went live in January 2024, which replaced customer feedback and highways systems with a more efficient digital platform. Future phases will include nineteen services, covering everything from pothole reporting to local welfare schemes. A redesign of the blue badge application process will be one of the next services to go live.

The new platform is transforming the way residents interact with council services. Through an intuitive web portal powered by Hitachi Solutions’ E-forms technology, residents are able to now, and in the future, authenticate their identity, submit applications, and track service requests in real time, reducing the need for manual interventions. Live updates, visual aids, and secure digital payment options further enhance accessibility, alleviating the pressure on front-line customer service teams.

One of the standout features of the new system will be its integrated payment processing, which will significantly improve transaction handling. Payments will be completed in just a day and a half, supporting faster service delivery for residents and stakeholders.

As more processes are launched onto the platform, WCC is better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities, such as using data to form a single customer view, transforming service delivery, and leveraging AI and automation.

The Benefits

1. An increased number of digital services for WCC residents to use.
2. More flexibility for residents to submit service requests anonymously or with authentication, depending on their preference and the type of service.
3. Automated workflows replace previously manual processes, freeing up WCC staff to focus on higher-value tasks and reducing administrative overhead.
4. Upskilling of WCC staff through extensive training to empower them with the technical skills to manage and expand the platform independently and for long-term success.

Lifetime Services

In November 2024, Warwickshire County Council partnered with Hitachi Solutions through a new Lifetime Services support contract, a move driven by two key priorities.

First, while continuing their own development work, WCC wanted the ability to tap into trusted expertise when needed, whether for strategic advice or additional hands-on support. Second, with plans to expand their use of the Hitachi E-Forms solution, they wanted a partner who could guide and support that growth.

The Lifetime Services agreement provides access to a dedicated service delivery manager, a responsive service desk, a clear governance framework, and a capped incident entitlement, all designed to provide structure without sacrificing flexibility. WCC can also draw on a broader range of services as needed, giving them the freedom to scale support in line with their goals.

The Future

With a robust, future-ready digital platform in place, WCC is now well-positioned to continue enhancing digital public service delivery and is looking to further expand the quality and provision of its digital services. Additionally, the new integrated platform will enable real-time data analysis and support opportunities for future automation.

The partnership has set a new benchmark for local government digital transformation, proving that with the right technology, collaboration and customer focus, councils can create more efficient and responsive services that truly support the needs of their communities.