A digitalisation strategy is being developed to enable Kouga Municipality to cut costs while improving the efficiency of its operations.
Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks said the Link service delivery application, coupled to the Kouga Call Centre, was a good example of how modernising the municipality’s systems could improve service delivery.
“Since the introduction of the Link app 17 months ago, the municipality has moved from being unable to report on the actual number of requests that had been attended to, to being able to track and monitor these requests in detail.
“Even more importantly, it has made it easier for residents to submit requests to the municipality.”
He said 20 086 service requests and faults had been reported through the Kouga Call Centre and Link App over the past seven months.
“The success rate has been an impressive 98% or 19 674 requests resolved during the same period. The municipality’s response time also improved from three days in the first quarter of 2018/19 to two days in the second quarter.”
He said Kouga was also cutting back on paper as part of the digitalisation process. “One of the motivations for going paperless is the potential savings, estimated to be R2-million per year, that we can achieve if we minimise the use of paper and photoco-pier machines.
“We also expect to save a further R2-million thanks to the installation of a new PABX system to replace the municipality’s outdated phone network.”
