Inform Communications

Introduction

• Prior to the introduction of Self Service, The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) felt they were not  delivering the most efficient and cost effective telephone service for residents. Customers often had to wait in lengthy queues to speak with someone, even for straightforward enquiries where direct contact was often unnecessary. The strain on resources resulting from high volumes of calls was also having a detrimental effect on work processing times, leading to unacceptable customer service standards.
• Call abandonment rates at peak times could exceed 35% and line capacity issues further compounded the resource shortfalls.
• Due to high call volumes all year round, and in particular during annual billing, it was important that any support service was robust and flexible enough to deal with very high demands and the diverse requirements of its users.
• Self Service was initially trialed via a six month pilot for Revenues and Benefits and has now been extended for a further year and the addition of a Self Service web and e-mail module is now under consideration.

Objectives/Priorities

•  A commitment to improve and enhance customer service and reduce complaints across the Revenues and Benefits department, without increased associated costs.
•  In the same way that internet users have access to the council 24/7, CEC wished to extend the same level of service to telephone users.
• Call abandonment rates were too high and it was a matter of priority to reduce them, especially during peak periods. The significant shortfall in call handling relative to service demand needed to be addressed before annual billing 2011.
• To reduce work processing times
• To maintain or improve collection rates.

Operational and Financial benefits

• Since implementation, Self Service has successfully answered over 209,000 enquiries at an average of over 36,000 per month.
• 42% of callers chose to transfer to advisors, with 58% having their enquiry successfully resolved by Self Service at a totally inclusive cost of less than two FTE's.
• This would require 17.5 FTE's to handle every call manually, with an equivalent annual cost of over £437,500 p.a.
• A significant reduction in the abandonment rate for Revenues and Benefits enquiries.
• Freeing up considerable staff time to focus on the callers who need direct interaction and greatly improve work processing times.
• Very few complaints have been received about the transition to an automated service; in fact many were now pleased that they could access information quickly without having to wait in lengthy queues to speak with someone when they did not need to.

'The service has been a roaring success in terms of providing 24/7 customer service, answering and resolving large volumes of calls and releasing resources. We are now operating with less FTE's than last year'

Ewan Ogilvie, Assistant Head of Revenues & Benefits