Helsingborg was the Swedish municipality that handled the most error reports, comments and operational alarms using Infracontrol Online in 2022, a total of approx. 35,000 cases.
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More than 170 customers have joined Infracontrol Online to simplify their technical management. During 2022, over 600,000 fault reports, comments and technical alarms were handled through the service, of which approx. 500,000 in Swedish municipalities. In addition to streamlining and simplifying the management of all cases, you get valuable information about society’s infrastructure and handling operation and maintenance work. Above all, the cases give an overview of residents’ daily problems and emphasize what should be prioritized to provide a simpler and better functioning everyday life.
Per Andersson, product manager of Infracontrol Online, comments on the summary of reported faults:
– It is nice to see that more and more people are using mobile apps to report faults and give feedback. It improves the quality of information so that cases can be taken care of and dealt with more easily and efficiently. Like in previous years, the most common fault reports in 2022 in Swedish municipalities concerned lighting, with approx. 33,300 cases. In second and third place are cases relating to vegetation, with approximately 16,000 cases, and graffiti, with 12,500 cases. The distribution varies between the municipalities but provides, in any case, a good overview of what does not work yet and can be improved – and, most of all, what the residents think is important.
Contributing to a better functioning society
Every reported fault or observation contributes valuable information about things that do not work as they should, or that can be improved.
– All municipalities should want to know what their inhabitants think, says Johan Höglund, CEO of Infracontrol. By making faults and observations easier to report, we can quickly fix malfunctions while receiving a continuous customer survey that measures the municipality’s level of service.
Cascais in Portugal, with 215,000 inhabitants and approx. 87,000 cases in 2022, is the municipality that handles most cases using the service. Second is Helsingborg in Sweden, with 151,000 inhabitants and around 35,000 cases.
Continued increased use of the mobile app for error reporting
More and more people are using Infracontrol Online’s app for reporting faults and observations. During 2022, the number of cases reported via the app increased by as much as 17% compared to 2021, says Per Andersson.
– The app makes it easy for residents to report faults wherever they are. You can take one or more photos of the problem; if you wish, the location is automatically registered. By categorizing your fault reports with a few simple options, the case can be processed quickly and delivered to the right person to rectify.
Per Andersson adds that as more and more people use the mobile app, the percentage of fault reports and comments submitted via web forms on the municipalities’ websites is decreasing. The distribution in 2022 was 51% via the form and 49% via the app. A good development since the app also facilitates the handling of cases:
– Because the quality of the information usually improves when faults are reported via the app, these matters can be handled more quickly. The municipality’s contact centre and case managers can then focus on matters that require more time and dialogue, such as observations or suggestions for improvement where feedback with a comprehensive answer is needed.
Automation simplifies and accelerates
All fault reports, observations, praise, operational alarms, and work orders become cases in Infracontrol Online. Thanks to smart categorization, they are then automatically allocated to the right person for action. Today, manually reported faults and comments dominate with about 95% of the total number of cases. But the proportion of automatic operational alarms is increasing.
– We can see that the number of fault reports decreases significantly when you connect IoT sensors or existing technical systems to the service, says Per Andersson. Faults can then be detected automatically and assigned to the right person for action, often before anyone notices something is not working properly.
Per Andersson explains that automatic operational alarms are especially important in critical systems such as traffic signals or pumping facilities.
– Infracontrol Online is developed to easily retrieve information from all imaginable types of systems for technical installations, so obtaining alarms from these is quick and simple.
Compilation showing the 15 most common types of fault reports in Swedish municipalities from January 1 to December 31, 2022.
