AN INCREASE in the use of new technology has prompted Hampshire County Council to launch a major review of its customer service operation.

With the development of social media and better access to broadband, the council wants to make sure that the ways residents contact them are keeping pace with what they want and expect.

Residents and visitors make, on average, 550,000 telephone calls to the council’s customer contact centre seeking advice or a service a year, send 85,000 emails requesting help, and make 16 million visits a year to its website.

Now the council is asking customers to fill in a resident survey to get feedback on what could be done better and what would make it quicker and easier for people to get what they need.

A survey carried out in the autumn recommended the council study and learn from the ‘excellent customer service’ offered by companies like Amazon and John Lewis.

Now, in a second survey that runs until January 31, the council wants to find out more about how people would like to make contact for things like finding information about school term dates or reporting potholes.

Hampshire County Council leader Councillor Roy Perry said: “The way people get their information is changing – whether it’s posting us a letter, sending us a ‘tweet’ or looking up services on a mobile phone – so it’s important to make sure we’re getting the balance right and that people get what they need with the least hassle, in a way that suits them.

“We’d like as many people as possible to give us their views so it will inform what we need to do to make it better.”

To fill in the resident surve, go online to hants.gov.uk/residentsurvey.