Home : Reports and Publications : Audit & Evaluation : Canada Business Service Centres in Western Canada: Evaluation Report 2002
Canadian Business Service Centres
in Western Canada:
Evaluation Report 2002
4.8 Design and Delivery
CBSCs were built on a strong foundation. The principles which guided their design are as true today as they were five or ten years ago when the Centres were first created. The program, in broad outline, is designed to:
- be client-centred and available throughout the whole service area;
- offer seamless service delivery in response to primary business-related information and knowledge needs of the SME sector;
- use triage to direct clients to the next most appropriate service provider;
- function as a network including departments and agencies from federal, provincial and municipal governments as well as private sector organizations;
- answer to a management committee comprised of partners, rather than bosses; and
- institute systematic feedback from clients and other stakeholders to ensure that the program continuously improves and adapts to changing circumstances.
This last point is particularly important, because the circumstances within which CBSCs operate are changing quite significantly. The marketplace is in transition, for one thing. Client profiles are shifting to include a larger proportion of established businesses. Both clients and potential clients are rapidly moving away from old technologies such as fax and telephone, and the Internet presents new opportunities as well as new challenges. The second major change is competition. Other public and private sector service providers are vying with one another and with CBSCs to deliver the same kind of services and products that the Centres have offered over the past decade or so. Although leaders in their field, CBSCs are now feeling pressure from rival organizations, many of whom have more resources at their disposal, and (because they are funding Partners) have the option of choosing to dominate the field.
In this environment, product design and delivery options assume a higher priority. There is no doubt that CBSCs have created a culture of continuous improvement for their product line. Table 7 demonstrates that new services and business tools are being introduced on a regular basis. In addition, regional managers identified development of on-line tools and websites as one of five major themes at a recent roundtable discussion of priorities for the coming year (CBSC 2002, slide 15).
During the study phase of the evaluation, the Institute asked both senior officials and staff to make suggestions with respect to design and delivery options. Many commented on the need to concentrate on web-based solutions. Virtually everyone agreed that state-of-the-art technology (and skilled technical support staff) will be needed to respond to changing client demands. Better use of current information technologies was also mentioned. For example, one staff member made the simple, but potentially effective, suggestion that CBSCs "use a centralized computer/Internet kiosk for clients to download or print documents (rather than relying on printed brochures and books, which require frequent updates)." However, no one offered specific suggestions as to how current challenges might be addressed at a strategic level.