While the Council receives over two million customer service requests and enquiries each year, its ability to respond quickly and accurately had suffered from a lack of investment. Southwark wanted to make sure it was working as efficiently as possible to cope with demand. It identified a need to improve the way enquiries were being dealt with and resolved to find more efficient ways of working and delivering information to the public. To achieve the Council’s ambitious customer service goals, Southwark enlisted the help of systems integrator, Vangent. Vangent conducted a comprehensive review of the IP communications market, and recommended the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform and Mitel Enterprise Manager to the Council to fulfill its requirements.
Dominic Cain, Head of Client Services at Southwark Council, said: “As a public sector organisation we are duty bound to ensure we get the best deal for the Council and its residents. Making the decision to move to an IP communications environment and invest in new technology has further opened up exciting opportunities which had previously been out of our reach. Vangent helped us to identify Mitel that could offer a competitive and comprehensive solution which met all our requirements and we are delighted with our decision.”
The Mitel IP communications solution brought the Council’s disparate communications together and provided the public with one single central point of contact, the Customer Service Centre (CSC). The Mitel 3300 ICP allowed Southwark to set up a satellite office to support the main CSC, as well as linking in the one-stop-shops which provide vital face-to-face customer service.
Mitel Enterprise Manager allows Southwark access to multiple sites and systems from a single interface. It also simplifies solution management by centralising administration, minimising repetitive tasks and automating many standard processes. Thus enabling sophisticated reporting and analysis that was previously unavailable to the Council.
Since the implementation Southwark Council has already seen a dramatic improvement in the level of customer service delivered to its residents.
Incoming calls to the Council are now answered faster than ever, with the abandonment rate cut by 350% - making the service one of the best performing across UK Local Government. Importantly, computer telephony integration and skills-based routing makes certain that inbound calls are routed to the most appropriate, available customer service agent able to deal with the customer’s requirement. Within the first year of operation, the front office has also increased its productivity by over 15% - ahead of Gershon targets (public sector target system) - by capitalising on call handling techniques and IP communications.
Dominic Cain concluded: “The benefits we have received from moving to IP communications have been huge. Vangent and Mitel’s IP communications solution has enabled our staff to enjoy real benefits from the increase in features and functions now available. The project has surpassed our expectations and really made a demonstrable difference to both productivity and customer service levels.”