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. 

Improving the customer journey is a priority for us, and we are delighted to be working together with Hitachi Solutions to develop our portfolio of digital services.

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 was to increase the number of digital services residents could use and make it easier for them to access the information they were looking for, consolidating 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, replacing customer feedback and highways systems with a more efficient digital platform, and future phases will include nineteen services, covering everything from pothole reporting to local welfare schemes, with a redesign of the blue badge application process among the next to go live. Through an intuitive web portal powered by Hitachi Solutions’ E-Forms technology, residents are now able to 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 and alleviate the pressure on front-line customer service teams. One standout feature is the integrated payment processing, which significantly improves transaction handling, with payments 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 use data to form a single customer view, transform service delivery and leverage AI and automation. 

Trust the partnership. Develop your own skills and capabilities, but that partnership will get you over the line delivering the vision you wanted to achieve.

Why Hitachi Solutions

WCC valued a partner that co-developed the platform with it and invested in upskilling its staff, so the council could manage and expand the system independently. Hitachi Solutions’ E-Forms technology and carefully structured, phased delivery de-risked a complex, multi-service transition, and the relationship has since deepened into an ongoing support arrangement. In November 2024, WCC partnered with Hitachi Solutions through a new Lifetime Services support contract, driven by two key priorities: 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; and with plans to expand its use of Hitachi E-Forms, it wanted a partner who could guide and support that growth. The agreement provides access to a dedicated service delivery manager, a responsive service desk, a clear governance framework and a capped incident entitlement, with the freedom to scale support in line with the council’s goals. 

A year on, we are seeing some really positive impacts. We are seeing a reduction in complaint numbers, greater ownership, increased usage of the system and real-time data analysis.

The Benefits 

• An increased number of digital services for WCC residents to use 
• More flexibility for residents to submit service requests anonymously or with authentication, depending on their preference and the type of service 
• Automated workflows replacing previously manual processes, freeing up WCC staff to focus on higher-value tasks and reducing administrative overhead 
• Upskilling of WCC staff through extensive training, empowering them with the technical skills to manage and expand the platform independently for long-term success 
• Integrated payment processing that completes payments in just a day and a half 
• Early signs of impact, including a reduction in complaint numbers, greater ownership, increased system usage and real-time data analysis 

What’s Next? 

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. 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.