Connecting with the citizens they serve can be a challenging business for the world’s government agencies.
Demand is always high, human resources are often scarce, and budgets are never big.
Whether at a national, state, or local level, citizens reach out for a myriad of different reasons and expect – reasonably or not – for their issue to be resolved without the need for a second interaction.
Add to that those citizens’ ability to do so via a constantly growing number of communication channels and it’s easy to see why only the smartest of contact centers is truly up to the job.
Feature-rich, always-on, scalable, and flexible are essential prerequisites if a high-quality user experience is to be delivered – plus a comprehensive, 24/7 service wrap to provide confidence and continuity.
Get it right and the often-fractious relationship between state and citizen is calmed.
Get it wrong and, well…you really don’t want to get it wrong.
“There is a real point of difference between the provision of an effective contact center for government and one for a corporate enterprise – understanding those differences and being able to respond to the challenges that come with them is key,” says Donna Houston, Client Advocate at global enterprise-class provider ComputerTalk, whose ice Contact Center platform delivers big for this sector.
She should know, too.
A former ComputerTalk customer herself, she joined the business from the Government of New Brunswick, Canada, where she was Senior Manager of the organization’s contact center services and where she implemented the ice solution.
“Government contact centers are not necessarily revenue generating but focused instead on providing a service for clients,” she adds.
“There are often budgetary or staffing constraints too, so governments have to be more efficient and handle as many calls as possible with the staff they have. At the same time, the agent experience and caller satisfaction levels are just as important as for other sectors.
“They may not necessarily be making purchases, but citizens are no different from customers – they demand and deserve a high-quality communication experience.
“Just as in the case of commercial enterprise, when that experience falls short, it can adversely affect brand reputation and undermine an organization’s efforts to connect effectively with those it serves.”
ComputerTalk’s powerful, cloud-based ice contact center solution has the smarts to deliver that high-quality communication experience Houston refers to.
For example, it features a call-back option for those citizens with a non-urgent enquiry content to be contacted during less-busy periods.
“Using call-backs enabled us to level-out the peaks and valleys of call volume and deploy staff accordingly,” says Houston, recalling her experience at Service New Brunswick.
“We continued to keep our staff productive during the quieter times by placing the outbound call-backs, while callers that were requiring service a little more urgently would actually get answered more quickly.”
The ice platform also enables agents to work remotely, replicating all of its head office functionality onto any connected device and therefore improving workforce flexibility.
In turn, supervisors benefit from data-rich dashboards providing single-pane-of-glass visibility across the contact center as well as the ability to intervene on calls where necessary.
Key also is the all-in-one-place nature of the platform: bringing voice, messaging, chat, and email together on to a single, easy-on-the-eye agent interface. Also, automated skills-based routing diverts callers to the most appropriate agent, increasing first-call resolution.
ice also has the power to provide video functionality for identity validation – a huge and growing aspect of governments’ continuing digitisation.
“These are all things which contribute to the quality and effectiveness of any interaction between a government organization and its citizens and, ultimately, the level of trust that exists between them,” says Houston.
“Unlike an enterprise such as a manufacturer or retailer with a fairly individually defined client base, government organizations must field communications from a very diverse and disparate group of people with very different user profiles and very different reasons for reaching out.
“Resolving those interactions can often be complex. If the process begins positively via a smooth and efficient initial contact, there is much more likelihood that the outcome will be satisfying for all parties.”
To learn more about how ice can help improve the way your organization interacts with those it serves, visit www.computer-talk.com
