The challenge
Like many councils across NSW, Woollahra Council was managing resident service requests through a combination of phone calls, email, and legacy systems that required significant manual handling by staff. Residents had limited visibility over the progress of their requests, leading to repeat follow-up calls and frustration on both sides of the counter.
Council’s customer service team faced the daily burden of manually routing and tracking requests across disconnected systems — with no unified view of a resident’s history or outstanding issues. Management reporting relied on manual data exports, making it difficult to identify trends or measure performance in real time.
- No resident self-service channel — every interaction required phone or email contact
- Staff had no single view of a resident’s history across service types
- Request routing between departments was manual and error-prone
- Management dashboards required time-consuming weekly reporting exports
- No automated resident notifications — residents had to call back to check status
- Staff login required separate credentials for each council system
Why iConciergeCRM
Woollahra Council chose iConciergeCRM over generic CRM platforms because of its purpose-built design for local government. Unlike enterprise CRM products adapted from commercial sales platforms, iConciergeCRM was designed from the ground up around council workflows, terminology, and resident engagement patterns.
The Big Technology Consulting team’s background — with over 40 years of combined experience working inside Australian councils — was a key factor in the decision. Council staff and management were confident they were working with a vendor that understood the operational realities of local government, not just the technology.
“iConciergeCRM has transformed the way our residents interact with Council. Staff have better visibility, residents have more control, and we have the data to back it all up.”Customer Service Manager, Woollahra Council Replace with an approved direct quote from your Woollahra Council contact.
The solution
Big Technology Consulting implemented iConciergeCRM as Woollahra Council’s primary customer request management platform, encompassing the resident-facing mobile app, the staff back-end, and two critical system integrations — Microsoft Entra ID for single sign-on and NICE CXone for telephony screen pop.
- Resident mobile app (iOS and Android) branded for Woollahra Council
- Browser-based access for residents without smartphones
- Staff desktop interface with Kanban workflow management and case notes
- Customer 360° view — full resident request and communication history
- Real-time dashboards for team leaders and management
- Automated resident notifications at each stage of request progress
- Microsoft Entra ID SSO — single sign-on for all council staff
- NICE CXone screen pop — inbound calls automatically surface the resident’s record
- Knowledge base for staff and resident self-service
The implementation was managed end-to-end by the Big Technology team, including configuration, data setup, staff training, and a supported go-live period.
Key integrations
Microsoft Entra ID SSO — Council staff log into iConciergeCRM using their existing Microsoft credentials, eliminating a separate username and password. The integration uses SAML 2.0 authentication, with Woollahra’s Azure AD acting as the identity provider. This removes password management overhead for IT and reduces friction for staff accessing the system.
NICE CXone telephony integration — When a resident calls the council’s contact centre, iConciergeCRM automatically surfaces the resident’s record on the staff member’s screen before they answer. Matched calls pop the full Customer 360° profile. Unmatched calls open a pre-filled new resident form — eliminating the time staff spend searching for records during calls.
Outcomes
The iConciergeCRM deployment at Woollahra Council delivered measurable improvements across resident engagement, staff efficiency, and management visibility.
Reduced front counter call volumes
Residents shifted to self-service request lodgement via the mobile app and browser portal, reducing inbound call volumes to the customer service team.
Faster request handling
Staff spend less time on manual routing and data entry. Kanban workflows and automated notifications accelerated average resolution times.
Real-time management visibility
Live dashboards replaced manual weekly reporting exports. Management now has up-to-the-minute visibility over team workload, request volumes and trends.
Improved resident satisfaction
Residents receive automatic status notifications at each stage. Fewer residents need to call back to check progress, improving overall satisfaction.
Note: Replace with specific quantified outcomes confirmed with Woollahra Council — e.g. percentage reduction in call volumes, time-to-resolution improvement, app adoption numbers.
Looking ahead
Big Technology Consulting continues to support Woollahra Council as the platform evolves. Planned enhancements include expansion of the NICE CXone integration to full Tier 2 functionality, additional service request categories, and ongoing refinements based on resident and staff feedback.
The Woollahra deployment demonstrates what’s possible when local government technology is built by people who understand councils from the inside — and supported by a team committed to long-term partnership rather than one-time delivery.