Better service in Sigtuna

Sigtuna, Sweden’s oldest preserved city, was established in 970 and has likely employed various methods to manage any issues and concerns from its citizens over the centuries. However, it wasn’t until more than 1,000 years later that the city decided to adopt Infracontrol Online to streamline its technical management and enhance service for residents. This has resulted in better oversight and quality control for the municipality, while residents enjoy improved accessibility and quicker resolution of issues.

Karin Sönnerstedt, an administrator at the Technology and Nature department of the Technology and Service Office in the municipality of Sigtuna, explains how Infracontrol Online simplifies and improves operations:

– It is easy to get an overview of the incoming error reports. We can also focus on potential “problem areas” and coordinate our measures if there are a lot of error reports in a specific area. The service also makes it easier for the staff, who, together with the residents, serve as our eyes in Sigtuna, Märsta, Rosersberg, Valsta and the countryside. They can conveniently submit an error report directly on the spot if they discover something that falls outside their area of responsibility or if they cannot address it at that time.

Better service for residents

So far, approx. 120 Swedish municipalities have chosen to use Infracontrol Online to simplify and streamline their technical administration. In 2019, Sigtuna decided to join the service with the ambition of providing better service to its residents:

– We chose Infracontrol for several reasons, but above all, to improve our service and accessibility to residents and to get a good overview and follow-up of the error reports we receive, explains Karin Sönnerstedt.

She adds that the service met expectations well and that the municipality’s administrators, residents and operating staff are very satisfied with its work.

-The service works very well for us, and we get positive feedback from our residents, as they find it easier and smoother to reach us. Above all, it means an improvement in quality for the residents. For example, we can ensure that reported errors are rectified by requesting before/after photos.

A well-functioning service that more people should use

When asked if Karin and her colleagues have any tips or ideas about missing functions or functions that could be improved, she replies:

– Not right now. But when we proposed improvement measures in the past, Infracontrol listened to us and implemented several of them. Which is appreciated and improves our work.

In Karin’s opinion, all Swedish municipalities should use this type of service:

– There’s not much to think about. Just do it. Infracontrol is a user-friendly system with many great features for residents, tourists and staff alike.

But even if everything needed is in place and working well, Karin Sönnerstedt sees several opportunities to expand and improve the use of the service:

– Among other things, we discussed having safety points to meet residents and gather opinions. Another thing is to include all lighting points in the map to get a more precise position and to know which lighting pole a fault report applies to.

A constructive citizen dialogue

Karin Sönnerstedt notes that the communication with residents has improved, which is much appreciated:

– We have made a lot of effort to improve our feedback to residents, which we felt was lacking. Because of that, we have received many emails from residents with thank you notes such as: “Thanks for the feedback and quick work!”. We have also heard that we are more accessible, and residents no longer have to wait in phone queues.

On Valentine’s Day in 2020, to promote the launch of the error reporting app, the municipality carried out various activities informing about the app and encouraging residents to report issues and provide feedback.

– We utilized all digital screens across the municipality to advertise the app and used Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. We also printed T-shirts for the staff working in the field to wear during the summer months. The T-shirts had information about the app and error reporting on the back.