Wokingham Council
Save Thousands, Improves Communications, Award Winning with CONTACT
In October 2010 Wokingham Borough Council won the Top
Public Services Call Centre for Email Communication using
CONTACT.
Wokingham Direct, Wokingham Borough Council's front line
customer management team reached the Top Ten for e-mail
communications in latest research from the Top 50 Call Centre's
rating for Customer Service. They came top of the Public Services
sector for their e-mail communications with a score of 87.62%
against an overall Top 50 e-mail average of 74%.
Each call centre was rated using over 50 criteria across
five key areas of service - timeliness, ease of use, reliability,
staff knowledge and personalised service - and awarded a Customer
Service rating in percentage terms.
Simon Thorpe, Programme Director, Top 50 Call Centres for
Customer Service, commented:
"The results show that many organisations are
already delivering a world-class service to their customers.
However, there is still room for improvement, particularly in the
area of personalised service."
The award to Wokingham Borough Council demonstrates how
the CONTACT email solution has aided and improved personalised
service delivery.
Summary
Communicating with citizens and businesses about issues and
public services is a major responsibility for Wokingham Borough
Council. In attempting to reach its diverse audience, contact
centre staff spent long hours on outdated and expensive hardware
which was limited to emails. Looking to expand its ability to
communicate in the most convenient channels for citizens, business
owners, students and employees, Wokingham Borough Council turned to
Datasquirt to implement the CONTACT multi-channel solution.
Integrating into CRM databases and the council's hosted voice
technology, CONTACT directs emails, SMS and live web chat sessions
to 10 specialist agents who answer questions and communicate in
real-time.
The hosted Contact Centre solution should save council tax payers
thousands of pounds in the future by offering lower-cost
alternatives to voice communications. Equally important, CONTACT
enables the Council to improve public services and communicate in
using personalised texts and emails, including payment or event
reminders, important notifications, general notices and information
about waste and recycling, parks and open spaces, roads and
highways, traffic management and planning.
Situation
Wokingham Borough Council faced several business challenges:
- Cumbersome, costly legacy
system. The Council's communication system relied on
expensive hardware and costly voice communications.
- Diverse audiences and high level
of communication. The Council had to reach students,
business owners, employees and citizens with a broad range of
information about payments, housing, traffic and recycling, and
other topics.
Datasquirt Solution
Wokingham Borough Council implemented the CONTACT
multi-channel solution for SMS, Email and Web-chat. The
solution allows contact centre agents to easily manage multiple
communications and reach audiences via the most convenient channel.
Launched in just a few weeks - the fastest deployment ever for the
Council - the CONTACT solution interfaces with CRM and voice
systems to offer an easy and convenient way to communicate timely
information.
Benefits
Wokingham Borough Council experienced a range of benefits from
CONTACT:
- Cost savings. The CONTACT
solution will save the Council thousands of pounds in the coming
years.
- Reduced administration.
CONTACT provides agents with immediate access to all the
information they need to answer multiple service enquiries, via
multiple channels, in a single blended environment. They also have
access to specific staff performance and management tools to help
understand customer needs through continuous monitoring of their
citizens' requests, responses and satisfaction levels.
- Higher quality
communications. CONTACT makes it easier to communicate with
audiences and offers tools to ensure consistency and high
standards.
- Award
Recognition. Winning a top 50 Call Centre Award for
email communications using CONTACT.
View the
demo or contact us to find out more.
