| London, UK, 25th January 2005. Colchester Borough Council has
refurbished its Customer Service Centre, extended its range of
eGovernment services, and set up a call-handling facility based on
Macfarlane CallPlus technology in an initiative designed to improve
service quality.
The new-look Customer Service Centre, opened in June 2004, gives
citizens and businesses more choice over 'how' and 'when' they make
contact with the Council. Customers can either:
* Walk into the Centre, which is conveniently sited in the heart of
town, and meet with Customer Advisors to make payments, obtain
information etc. (with self-service Web terminals also planned for the
near future)
* Obtain information and carry out transactions via the council web site
at www.colchester.gov.uk
* Call or email the Customer Service Centre and have their query handled
by an Advisor
Service calls are managed in a new call-handling facility, located
behind the main public area of the Customer Service Centre. The Centre
currently employs 22 full-time equivalent Customer Advisors and manages
a weekly average of 3,000 service-based calls, 2,200 switchboard calls,
600 face-to-face enquiries for quick information, 560 face-to-face
enquiries for detailed advice, and 3,000 face-to-face payment enquiries.
CallPlus technology from Macfarlane Telesystems manages all call traffic
at the Centre. It answers incoming calls, intelligently routes them
through to Customer Advisors with appropriate skills, and provides the
Council with detailed management information. It also provides
screen-based dialling for Advisors to make outgoing calls.
With the exception of a small customer service department within the
Revenues and Benefits section, all incoming calls to the Council were
previously answered by specialist departments. Now, all general calls
to the Council, as well as detailed enquiries relating to Benefits,
Council Tax, Payments, Direct Debits, Street Services and Rapid Response
are handled by experienced Customer Advisors within the Centre.
The Macfarlane technology has enabled Colchester Council to improve the
quality of service delivered over the phone as well as extend opening
hours from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Previously, customer service calls could
only be handled between 9am and 5pm with early closure on Wednesdays.
CallPlus has also provided a number of advanced computer telephony
features:
* Automated telephone greetings: for when the Council runs multiple
services from a single incoming phone number
* Automated announcements: giving up-to-date information (such as
"refuse collection times are changing")
* 'On-the-fly' call recording: controlled by Customer Advisors, and used
when they consider it necessary to record calls
* Integration to various Council database servers: to 'screen-pop'
relevant customer information onto Advisors' PC screens as calls are
delivered to their desktops
* Place in queue announcements: with the added option of expected wait
times
* Instant call transfer: enabling Advisors to pass callers onto any
Council specialist, anywhere within the County of Essex, at the touch of
a button
Customer Advisors with exceptional customer service skills and
experience have been recruited for the Centre and trained to a high
standard on service knowledge and solutions, as well as in Personal
Safety, Equality and Diversity, Welfare Rights and Technology Skills.
In a move designed to provide maximum flexibility for the Council and
improved job satisfaction for its staff, Customer Advisors have also
been multi-skilled. This means they've been trained to work both in the
call handling and the public-facing areas of the Centre - as well as to
assist with a broad range of Council services. Hence, an Advisor can
be helping a caller on a Waste or Highway enquiry one minute, then
assisting a second caller on a Benefit enquiry, and then taking a
parking permit payment from a third customer in the cash office. Staff
can be switched easily between call handling and face-to-face duties
dependent on the customer demand for each. And they can even take calls
in the public and cash office areas during quiet times - as Macfarlane
telephony and PC terminals are available in all areas of the Centre.
"Two key objectives of Colchester Borough Council are to deliver greater
accessibility to all services and to meet and exceed its customers'
expectations. The new Customer Service Centre - a flexible environment
designed around our customers' needs - is a crucial step on the way to
meeting these goals. At the one convenient location we can now offer a
wider range of services, quicker responses to queries and more efficient
cash collection than ever before. At the same time, we collect real
data to help us make and manage future improvements," said Councillor
Christopher Arnold, Communications and Rural Issues portfolio holder,
Colchester Borough Council.
"The Macfarlane telephony system is integral to our plans for continuous
service improvement. We've been very impressed with the flexibility and
functionality it provides, and the way it allows us to integrate easily
into other front and back office systems, and create management and
agent screens that fit in with the way that we work. It's an extremely
well thought-through system that's simple to learn and use" added Leonie
Rathbone, Customer Service Centre Manager, Colchester Borough Council.
"Colchester Borough Council must be congratulated on the way it has
created a modern and flexible Customer Service Centre that puts customer
choice and satisfaction at the heart of its operation," said Paul
Skinner Sales Director of Macfarlane Telesystems, who has been working
with the council for over four years. "We are delighted to be working in
partnership with Colchester Borough Council, which achieved an
'excellent' Comprehensive Performance Assessment rating, to help deliver
its customer service vision."
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