March 23, 2006

OK.

I have some money. I want to pay my national insurance (a sort of stealth tax for those non-brit readers).

this is not possible.

Really - it's not. I have rung up a plethora of numbers I have in front of me, some of which promise I may even be able to pay via debit card. Every time the person who answers is not from the department I am expecting -- and every time they have no or little idea how to find the right department.

Could there be a better candidate for some internal process management upgrades?

Gordon Brown announced in this year's budget that he intended to trim the fat of whitehall by making various government departments work harder, including the treasury, inland revenue and customs.

I say make them work smarter.

Why not give the revenue teams social software? Lets have a useful intranet with regular updates - and make it all searchable. When I call with the number printed on my two-month old bill, I accept that the number may have been repurposed, or the overflow being picked up by another department - but i expect the overflow to be able to help.

By utilising a wiki, they could know where to look to get me assistance - with a directory they could look up the relevant department and put me through.

Now i'm just sitting by the phone with the expectation that I may get called back so that I might be able to pay my bill. Such incentive.

budget inland revenue tax contributions social software wiki forums

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