London Borough of Brent Council is using a web-based text messaging system from Text Messaging Centre (TMC) to communicate with its staff and 270,000 residents.
Brent Council is using the SMS system as an additional channel alongside its existing telephone, email and internet channels. Using TMC’s technology, the council is now able to deal with residents’ queries faster and keep them up-to-date with the status of their enquiry.
Alpesh Kerai, information systems analyst, Brent Council, said, “Once an application is received by the building control department from an agent, a confirmation text message is sent, followed by regular updates. Using TMC speeds up the process – in the past builders stopped until approval for the next stage of development had been granted, but now as soon as building control has made the decision, a text message is sent and the builders can continue working, while the written confirmation is sent by post.”
Brent Council is now sending around 5000 text messages each week across a number of council departments, including building control, planning, transportation, revenues and benefits, and education.
Kerai added, “The TMC technology is so simple to use that new users can be trained in 15 minutes. We are implementing the system across different departments, so being able to train people quickly on using the application is important. Furthermore, we currently send 5000 text messages every week but that varies and is expected to rise, so TMC’s no contract, no minimum term and no fixed monthly fees suit us perfectly.”
