Residents of Sydney’s Hurstville City Council can now get a personal response to phone calls on a range of Council services 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Customer Service Coordinator Glenn McCarthy said surveys had shown that people did not find recorded menu systems helpful. “Many queries just do not fit into a simple category that allows a numerical menu system,” he said
The new service is a mix of Council’s in house call centre and a commercial call centre. Accelerating Business Performance Pty Ltd has been engaged, using Council’s specialist Customer Service Management software, to instantly forward requests to the desktop of the relevant Council Officer.
Mayor Philip Sansom said he believed it was the first time such an approach has been used in Local Government in Australia. “This is an innovative approach maximising the strengths of Council staff, private enterprise and the latest communications technology to provide optimum service to our customers,” he said. “Busy people can now choose a time to make an enquiry or request of the Council.”
General Manager Howard Wallace said the system not only provides excellent customer service it is cost efficient. “The total cost of the 24 hour service, including our own staff, equates to about $25 per hour,” he said.
Three specific areas Development and Health; Engineering; and Rates have been chosen for Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) due to the relatively high volume of calls received and the specialised nature of the enquiries.
These three service areas are now achieving excellent results in response times and are highly efficient in their resolution of customer requests.
Hurstville’s commitment to customer service was recognised when it won the Institute of Municipal Management’s 1998 Gold Award for Management Excellence for its project, ‘Focusing on Customer Service.’
For further information contact Glenn McCarthy, telephone (02) 9330 6222
