The City of Utrecht Creates a Seamless Citizen Journey with Qmatic

Utrecht Municipal Office - A new look 

Visible, findable, and accessible: this is probably the shortest description of Utrecht's new Municipal Office. An important municipal ambition has come true because of the realisation of the approximately 65,000 m building. Citizens can now go to one central location for (nearly) all municipal services. This puts a final stop to the fragmentation of what the municipality offers that was distributed over more than 30 locations. The new Municipal Office houses eleven municipal services. And the streams of visitors? They are guided in the perfect direction by Qmatic.

Finding the way

The larger the building, the more complex it becomes to have visitors find their way quickly. The scope and diversity of the streams of visitors were, therefore, taken extra into account when developing the new municipal office where efficiency and customer friendliness were given the highest priority. In addition to clear signposting, modern on-screen information provision and the deployment of hosts and hostesses, a prominent role is being fulfilled by the innovative Qmatic queueing solution and registration units. How do we ensure that people do not get lost? How do we guarantee that visitors know on which floor they will be helped immediately after arrival? And how can we best prepare employees for the next appointment? These are all questions that Qmatic has investigated and answered in close cooperation with the municipality itself.

Qmatic Orchestra: enterprise software platform

Although orchestrating streams of visitors in one building is already fairly complex, the Orchestra enterprise software platform offers even more options in order to achieve the best possible customer experience. It is, therefore, possible to manage streams of visitors of multiple (sub)organizations centrally via Orchestra as is the case in Utrecht. Even when the organization is distributed over multiple physical locations. In the case of the municipality of Utrecht, the auxiliary branch (the service center in Vleuten-De Meern), also benefits from the advanced customer experience platform

“The number of visitors can reach up to about 2,000 a day. All these people now find their way to the correct department effortlessly through one system, for example, by entering their date of birth or scanning a QR code,” said Martijn ter Wee, Public Services Project Leader. 

Scan your destination

Outlining the best customer route does not start upon arrival in the building in the Qmatic vision, but when the appointment itself is made. All citizens who make an appointment with the municipal office will receive a personal QR code via email that serves as a "GPS" when they arrive at the municipal office. Visitors will not only be announced automatically at the correct department, but will also be referred to the correct location (floor and waiting area) immediately by scanning the QR code on one of the three Qmatic self-service kiosks located at the entrance. This will not just save much searching and explanation time but will also boost the turnaround time at the department itself. The employee will know exactly who is coming to his or her desk and can consult the correct information on the screen immediatelyOutlining the best customer route does not start upon arrival in the building in the Qmatic vision, but when the appointment itself is made. All citizens who make an appointment with the municipal office will receive a personal QR code via email that serves as a "GPS" when they arrive at the municipal office. Visitors will not only be announced automatically at the correct department, but will also be referred to the correct location (floor and waiting area) immediately by scanning the QR code on one of the three Qmatic self-service kiosks located at the entrance. This will not just save much searching and explanation time but will also boost the turnaround time at the department itself. The employee will know exactly who is coming to his or her desk and can consult the correct information on the screen immediately. 

A five star citizen journey

 As a global market leader in customer journey management, Qmatic knows that there are three factors that will convert an "ordinary" customer journey into a five-star experience. The first condition is that people must be guided quickly to the correct employee. Without fuss. And without getting lost. It is also important that employees are well informed before an appointment. Who should they be expecting? What is the status of the citizen’s file, application, or request? If this information is available immediately, it will lead to a significant time saving. Also for the customer. This leads us to the most important condition: people must be given a positive experience with regard to services. A streamlined customer journey will contribute directly to this. Using Qmatic Orchestra, Utrecht Municipal Office was provided with a user friendly, advanced, web based customer journey management platform which can be fully integrated with its other back office platforms. Creating a strong foundation for that five-star customer journey. This is how we created an extraordinary customer experience for the citizens visiting the municipal office. As a global market leader in customer journey management, Qmatic knows that there are three factors that will convert an "ordinary" customer journey into a five-star experience. The first condition is that people must be guided quickly to the correct employee. Without fuss. And without getting lost. It is also important that employees are well informed before an appointment. Who should they be expecting? What is the status of the citizen’s file, application, or request? If this information is available immediately, it will lead to a significant time saving. Also for the customer. This leads us to the most important condition: people must be given a positive experience with regard to services. A streamlined customer journey will contribute directly to this. Using Qmatic Orchestra, Utrecht Municipal Office was provided with a user friendly, advanced, web based customer journey management platform which can be fully integrated with its other back office platforms. Creating a strong foundation for that five-star customer journey. This is how we created an extraordinary customer experience for the citizens visiting the municipal office.

1. Appointments are made quickly

Whether people want to renew their driving license or make changes to their home and want to know whether this is permitted, you always have to plan an appointment in Utrecht for these types of services. This ensures that the municipality can work more efficiently, waiting times can be minimized and citizens themselves can indicate when it is convenient to visit. Making an appointment with Qmatic Orchestra is easier and user friendlier than ever before. This is in part because of the service-specific web forms that customers can complete and send online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After the appointment has been made, the customer will receive a confirmation email including the relevant product information. Appointments can also be completely changed online.

2. Registering is finding

People can register quickly and simply at one of the Qmatic self-service kiosks by entering their date of birth or scanning the QR code provided by email. Next, the system will refer people immediately to the correct department and employee where even the walking time to the relevant department is taken into account. Employees will receive a message on who they can expect in real time and can already prepare for the meeting. All data is presented in a clear manner thanks to the flexible screen structure in combination with the user-friendly management module. Everybody will simply know what is expected of them.People can register quickly and simply at one of the Qmatic self-service kiosks by entering their date of birth or scanning the QR code provided by email. Next, the system will refer people immediately to the correct department and employee where even the walking time to the relevant department is taken into account. Employees will receive a message on who they can expect in real time and can already prepare for the meeting. All data is presented in a clear manner thanks to the flexible screen structure in combination with the user-friendly management module. Everybody will simply know what is expected of them.

3. Please wait

Waiting times and queues can, naturally, not be excluded completely. But waiting in the new municipal office is a completely new type of waiting experience. The different waiting areas have been comfortably set up and visitors are informed about progress continuously. The Qmatic system, moreover, offers the municipality the option of providing visitors with news about municipal services (as well as other issues). All information is displayed on one central screen so that people have immediate access to the news items and call information that is relevant to them, ensuring that waiting also contributes to the customer experience.

4. Your turn

Visitors can be invited from every interview room and/or desk when it is their turn. It is not a problem to differentiate between different (groups of) visitors, for example, to avoid unexpected increasing waiting times. You can, for example, decide to give priority to people who have a simple query that can be answered quickly for a short period of time. Or vice versa. These profiles can be configured easily so that you can respond effectively to specific situations. Even greater convenience? Real-time monitoring of, for example, increasing waiting times or overruns is possible.

5. Back office integration

Since Qmatic Orchestra can seamlessly communicate with the municipal office's back office, making control information accessible in real time is not a problem in any way. This means that employees always have insight into the streams of customers including data about waiting times and the number of people waiting. Adjustments can be made quickly and efficiently should there be logistics bottlenecks. Moreover, employees can be provided with information about the nature of the support that they must offer because of the far-reaching integration. This safeguards that they are fully prepared.