When the phone rings at the City of Boroondara’s Contact Centre in Melbourne’s inner east, customers can be confident that staff will handle their enquiry quickly and efficiently.
This is partly due to Council’s online knowledge system of standard operating procedures (SOPs). The system contains everything that customer service staff need to answer almost any enquiry.
Previously, staff had to refer to folders of council information or PDFs stored on council’s intranet to assist customers.
Boroondara’s Customer Service Coordinator Coleen Cartwright says this was problematic.
“We could never be completely certain the hard copy information that staff had on their desks was up to date. They didn’t use the PDF documents because they had to know exactly what they were looking for and where to find it.
“Now, a keyword search makes it easy to find information (common misspellings are listed among keywords). The online system covers hundreds of topics, clearly explaining how staff should answer almost any customer enquiry.” she said.
Advantages of the online system include:
- it uses key search words, allowing speedy and relevant responses
- it can be easily updated
- training new staff is easier
- it is practical, effective and other council staff can use it
- it is faster and more efficient, improving customer service
- it includes general community information, beyond council’s services.
Ms Cartwright says the Customer Service Team works with staff across the organisation to develop relevant SOPs and keep them up to date.
“Recently, a resident rang to ask if they could keep a rooster in their backyard. Our officer searched ‘chooks’ but couldn’t find anything, so we’ve included ‘chook’ as a key search word for keeping poultry on private property.”
