Almost 6000 people have signed up to the council’s new Customer Outreach Service which allows them to be alerted to important service updates in their area by text or email.
The new system was set up to ensure residents of Argyll and Bute were being given the most relevant and topical information in a way that best suits them. Members of the public can choose which updates they want to receive and whether they want to be given that information in an email or a text message to their mobile phone.
It also allows people to give feedback to the council on planned developments and current performance.
And as the system complies with recent changes to how data is handled under the GDRP data protection regulations, residents are required to sign up themselves and can opt out whenever they wish.
The 5800 people who have already signed up for some form of the available communications are those whose details were currently held by the council. They were sent an email advising them about the new service, while also being offered the chance to have their contact details removed from the council’s systems to ensure compliance with GDPR.
When signing up, residents are able to choose some or all of the following outreach options:
• To be informed of service disruptions
• To be informed of significant changes to services
• To be informed of council related events in their area
• To be offered to participate in customer satisfaction surveys
• To be offered to take part in consultations
Councillor Rory Colville, Policy Lead for Corporate Services, said: “This new Outreach Service means that residents are able to get the updates and notifications that are most relevant to them. It is possible to tailor messages to very specific audiences to alert them on, for example, disruptions affecting a specific street or island, elections reminders for specific wards or consultations affecting their communities.
“We were very pleased with the numbers of people who chose to sign up and now we want to make it as easy as possible for everyone in Argyll and Bute to be included. It’s a simple case of signing up online, and you can choose whether you want to be contacted by text message or email.”
The Customer Outreach sign-up page can be found at http://bit.ly/2Ol0u4Y