Public sector software supplier Lagan is to provide further support to local authorities striving to reduce 'avoidable contact' under the Government's NI 14 requirements with the launch of Lagan Broadcast, based on the HTK Horizon platform. The new solution is designed to promote proactive communication with citizens by enabling messages to be sent rapidly to several thousand individuals simultaneously.

Citizens who live within the boundaries of local authorities using Broadcast will be able to register on a voluntary basis to receive information about local authority services or local events, and select how they wish to receive information - via e-mail, SMS or to their landline. By actively pushing out key information to citizens, councils will be able to significantly reduce the volume of inbound calls by providing specific messages or directing citizens to more detailed information on the council's website to find out what they need to know.

Phil Murray of Lagan explains: "Councils will be able to use Lagan Broadcast to advise citizens in advance of important information. For example, if there is a change to refuse collection dates because of a bank holiday, or a refuse collection van has broken down, the council will be able to contact those citizens affected and thus avoid a flux of inbound enquiries. Alternatively, all residents could be contacted with, say, reminder of due date for council tax payments. The applications are extremely wide-ranging and flexible in terms of who is contacted and via what channel."

With councils required to report on NI 14 from April next year, Lagan Broadcast will be warmly welcomed as a solution to drastically reduce unnecessary contact, and forms a relatively low cost way for councils to achieve the Government's requirements.

Justin Bowser, HTK Director of Public Sector believes the Lagan / HTK partnership brings unique benefits: "One of the greatest challenges with message broadcast services is to obtain and maintain high data quality. By combining the strengths of Lagan Enterprise Case Management and HTK Horizon, we are able to deliver a truly unique service that breaks new ground in the area of proactive citizen contact."