Operational efficiencies and cost savings

An excellent multi-channel contact center can streamline service delivery and direct residents to less expensive ways of communicating and conducting business with their governments. Shared access and coordination of information and actions of internal and cross-agency staff can influence productivity.

When well-trained and knowledgeable call agents are taking detailed information and issuing work orders, especially with mapped locations, crews can focus on delivering service. The field officer actually can find the pack of reported loose dogs without calling back to get more details, and can enter real-time status and closures from the field. The results are efficient processes and exceptional customer service. For example, Miami Dade County’s MyGovIdea promotes improvement ideas and peer review through online citizen crowdsourcing. Launched in 2009, the first year resulted in the implementation of 85 ideas, with cost savings of almost $1.2 million.

Corpus Christi, Texas, has achieved efficiencies and cost savings through the synergy of its WiFi network and an integrated, mobile work management system, which is used by the Customer Call Center and service departments, such as utilities, public works, parks and code enforcement. City field crews access citizen service requests submitted by the call center, and manage, enter data and close work orders in the field for real-time data, time savings and fuel savings. Improvements have included the ability to reach one to three more customers per crew per shift each day, more accurate reporting data, better resource allocation and savings of one to two hours per day, equivalent to more than $50,000 annually. 

The city and county of Denver has reduced costs by offloading live calls to its online 311 tool, with an increase of 1,800 percent in use from 2009 to 2010. In 2011, 16 agencies used the online service request system. When a fire burned parts of Fun Forest playground in Chesapeake City Park, Chesapeake, Va., developed a targeted Facebook page to engage and enlist the help of its residents. The result was $87,767 in donations and 1,800 volunteers providing 21,600 work hours for the rebuild. 

Because a contact center functions as the front line for service departments, work management systems used by those departments are important considerations. When the same service request system is used throughout the enterprise, the results are one work order number, notes and close-outs in the same system; the same service and priority codes; and one knowledge base.

If an enterprise work management system is not possible, then interfaces between systems can maintain efficiencies, not just for issuing work orders, but also for data collection, reporting and performance monitoring. The goal is to ensure shared, consistent and complete data, so that, for example, the street department and the contact center have the same, accurate performance reports.  

The cost savings from using a centralized multi-channel contact center can be significant. According to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner, email and live phone inquiries cost an estimated $4.50 per contact. Forrester Research and others estimate the cost of live agent contact even higher, up to $6.50 per contact. Online interactions, including web-based mobile, average $0.50 per contact.

Cities and counties can strategically implement multiple channels, rolling channels out one at a time depending on demand and funding. Because 60 to 70 percent of most contact center calls are requests for information, many calls can be avoided by making the information accessible on a website or through an IVR. Offering answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) through as many channels as possible can significantly reduce live calls. Online FAQs, texts, posts and tweets, can direct residents to more detailed information and introduce them to other self-service options.