Greater Manchester Police use call system to improve community services

Call operators now have access to a virtual directory of contact details

Greater Manchester Police is using a call management system to improve services for incoming community and non-emergency calls.

The system from Datapulse allows the force to check if incoming calls are being answered within specified response times and can analyse costs and network use.

'We were looking forward to the reporting process being upgraded,' said Colin Carey, assistant IT director at Greater Manchester Police. 'It will enable staff to be aware of how much they are using the phone and how cost effective this is.'

The force wanted to better understand how many calls it was taking and how it was performing to determine whether or not it was meeting targets.

Call operators now have access to a virtual directory of contact details for all force employees, as opposed to paper directories which were expensive to print and quickly became out-of date. The directory has reduced the length of time it takes to transfer a call.

The new system also has a call recording facility. If an operator is unable to hear a caller properly, they can listen to the conversation again.