The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) is a local government council dedicated to serving its community and delivering invaluable public services to its residents. Each and every day, citizens reach out to inquire about all manner of local issues, including policing, education, public parks, bin collection, housing, and much more.
Paul Blake is the Customer Service Officer in the House Repairs division at LBBD, and it’s Paul’s job to ensure those conversations are informative, intuitive, and stress-free. But that wasn’t always easy, especially with the organization’s previous system. “The old system was painful to use and kept us stuck at our desks,” remembers Paul. It was difficult to use, lacked data insights, and failed to support the evolving needs of the local government.
Roadblocks created from outdated systems
Things got even trickier for Paul when the pandemic hit. Suddenly, their work mattered more than ever, but so did the safety of the folks who work at the council. Paul and his team needed a solution that would support remote work—and they needed it fast.
With a monthly call volume of around 20,000 calls handled, the council required a communications solution that was efficient, reliable, and provided first-in-class data and analytics. They started the hunt for a cloud-based solution to address these pain points and future-proof their communications strategy while giving them all the tools they needed to continue serving their community remotely during COVID.
A cloud-based solution to keep operations running smoothly
After a thorough search, Paul and his team chose 8x8 for LBBD’s new communications partner. Because of the pandemic, speed of delivery was a big priority for Paul and his team. “The pandemic hit and we needed a fast solution. 8x8 was confident that they could get us up and running quickly, and they did.” The decision also came down to 8x8’s robust support, advanced analytics, powerful integrations, and future-proof cloud solution. “We’re able to work remotely with 8x8, which we just couldn’t do with our old on-premises system,” says Paul.
Thanks to the hard work of dedicated staff at both organizations, 8x8 Contact Center and 8x8 Work were up and running in just two weeks. Transitioning to 8x8 was a significant change, but with careful planning and execution, as well as hands-on support from 8x8 Professional Services, the migration was successfully implemented.
“I really like the platform,” says Paul. “With 8x8, I have a better understanding of how long I’ve been on the phone with a customer, and it’s easier to do things like transfer customers to different departments or set up conference calls.”
According to Paul, the biggest change by far is the access to data and analytics. “My favorite thing about 8x8 is the analytics for the contact center,” says Paul. “It’s really useful and easy to find the information that I’m looking for. And now that the whole team is remote, it’s critical that I can monitor those kinds of things from my 8x8 dashboard. It’s incredibly valuable.”
AI automation takes the pressure off agents
Since making the switch, Paul and his team decided to add 8x8 Intelligent Customer Assistant (ICA) to their council tax lines for additional support. This AI-driven solution reduced the burden on agents by resolving common queries without human intervention, allowing staff to focus on more complex cases. The tax queue is their busiest department, and using ICA allows them to minimize call wait times, support their agents, and offer service to residents when their office is closed.
In January of 2025, for example, LBBD received approximately 2,700 total calls and chats, with 1,170, equating to 43% of interactions, opting to go to an agent. The rest, 57%, were handled by ICA, meaning that the solution was able to solve the inquiry entirely on its own or correctly transfer the caller to a payment line or something similar. This has been a huge help to the agents, and when the average call handling time is just over 10 minutes, that’s a lot of time and energy saved in a single month. In the month of January alone, for example, that’s 255 hours saved for the council tax team.
Data from 8x8 is also a game-changer when it comes to staffing and workforce management. “Now, I can see all the data, which is really handy to keep track of how my colleagues are doing,” says Paul. “I can help the agents and I can help the leaders. For example, if someone is late coming back from break, I can hop on the calls until they’re back. Plus, I can have a look to see how many others are offline at the same time, which makes staffing so much easier, it’s really handy.”
Plus, sharing that information with stake-holders is a breeze. “With a few clicks, I can format and export it to share the information with colleagues and managers for all sorts of optimizing,” adds Paul. “Before, information was hard to find and the user interface was terrible,” says Paul. “8x8 is a lot more user friendly.”
One-way video brings faster resolutions
Another 8x8 feature that has made a huge difference for LBBD is 8x8’s video elevation feature. This allows callers to use one-way video to chat with technicians so they can see the issue in real-time and provide a remedy remotely. This feature significantly reduced the need for on-site visits, leading to an increase in first-call resolution (FCR) and cost savings. “The video elevation capabilities have had a very positive response,” says Paul. “By doing these calls with video we can determine the nature of someone’s emergency and we’re ready to help. It’s very user-friendly and quick. Residents are happy to use it, and they love this option.”
According to Paul, 8x8 has made daily tasks easier and quicker, and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is now well-positioned to provide a more responsive and efficient service to its residents. With 8x8’s advanced capabilities, the council is not only improving day-to-day operations, but also preparing for future growth and innovation. The move to 8x8 has transformed the council’s operations, proving that the right technology can make a profound difference in public service delivery. With improved data insights, greater efficiency, and a stronger commitment to customer service, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has laid the foundation for a smarter, more connected future.
