Dundee Council improves response times

Local authority overhauls communications

Dundee City Council is installing a system to improve communications and respond to calls from residents five times faster than previously possible.

Using Datapulse operator modules the council has enabled staff to respond more efficiently to the 45,000 calls it receives every month.

'Our new operator consoles have radically changed our callers’ experience and quality of service and have also notably improved our internal efficiencies and productivity,' said Bob Laird, principal administration officer at Dundee City Council.

Previously the council was struggling to cope without an electronic directory or adequate call handling technology and was looking to implement a future-proof new operator solution.

The previous consoles had no back up or database facilities and were dependent on a paper-based directory and hand written notes. Numbers were getting lost and callers were frustrated by the amount of time it took for the council to update them on their situation or complaint.

Operators were relying on their own records and this led to confusion when callers rang back to check upon the status of queries and spoke to another operator who was unaware of the situation.

Datapulse deployed six new operator consoles running on a Nortel Meridian with a number of features that helped the council revitalise its call handling, including an extensive directory of contacts, customised information pages, operator statistics and automatic call answering.

Operators now have access to a searchable database that instantly gives them accurate and up-to-date information to their PC screen, enabling them to deal with the call more quickly and efficiently and deal with a greater volume of calls.

This, together with the fact that calls come straight through to the operator – rather than the operator choosing to answer them – has led to significantly reduced call queuing and handling times. Queuing time is down to one second and average handling time is now 18 seconds – five times faster than before.

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