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Intermediaries are described here
as organisations from the private or voluntary sectors offering
services targeted at and tailored to chosen groups of customers,
this may be consumers or businesses.
They offer access to public sector
services on behalf of their customers, potentially including
new services which are based on a government component. Intermediaries,
as outlined here, thus clearly differ from those contracted
to deliver services on behalf of government.
The figure below illustrates the
difference between intermediaries contracted to deliver services
on behalf of government (government commissioned intermediaries)
and intermediaries as defined in this paper (customer
commissioned intermediaries).
The difference between government commissioned
intermediaries and customer commissioned intermediaries
The concept of intermediaries
is not new. An example from everyday life is the role of supermarkets
intermediating for banks. It has become a well-known and welcome
fact that supermarkets (commissioned by their customers) offer
cash-back facilities for their customers. By doing this, they
become in effect the front-end delivery channel for their
customer's bank.
Intermediaries may become involved
in the delivery of public services in a variety of ways. The
various types of intermediaries are illustrated below.
Types
Intermediaries can simply, without
modifications, add a government service to their product range.
This is described in the case of current organisations serving
motorists.
Simple Transaction - Motorist
Organisation
A motorist services company
might want to add Vehicle Excise Duty (car tax) to their
portfolio. Their offer becomes more of a "one-stop-shop"
and is likely to increase customer loyalty, or attract
new customers to the service.
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In a more complex case, an intermediary
can provide legal representation e.g. a financial advisor
who represents a citizen at the Inland Revenue and adds expert
knowledge to their customer base.
Expert Advisor Case - Financial
Advisor
Existing intermediaries,
such as accountants, already use their expertise to
discount rules and procedures that do not apply to a
particular client's financial affairs. They have become
experts in government and the related law, proactively
seeking out better outcomes based on awareness of the
current and changing environment (e.g., new laws and
regulations).
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Intermediaries can also use a
government information asset, such as Ordnance Survey data
and turn it into a new, value added service for their customers.
Companies like streetmap.co.uk have followed this path. (See
box C).
Information Asset
Streetmap.co.uk licenses
data from Ordnance Survey and, by integrating it with
a range of other value added services such as Business
Web Pages (e.g. nearest store locator), turns it into
an attractive proposition to their customers.
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These examples are not exhaustive
but are meant to illustrate how intermediaries can play a
part in the delivery of public services.
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