Dundee uses Datapulse to delight local residents

Dundee city council offers a wide range of different services to its local residents. With a small team of operators covering a large number of different council services, 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. In addition, the council had one visually impaired operator and was looking for a tailored console that would accommodate their needs.

Operators at the council were becoming increasingly frustrated with their old flat-bed (desk) consoles, which had no back up or database facilities. They had to depend on a paper-based directory and hand written notes, numbers were getting lost and callers becoming 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.

Dundee City Council decided to radically update its call reception system to provide a much better service to its citizens. It chose Datapulse to provide new operator consoles including one specially designed for a visually impaired operator - the Datapulse VIOC (Visually Impaired Operator Console). The Datapulse consoles also have a simple upgrade path to IP, a vital consideration for Dundee City Council as it will save on cabling costs when they relocate to their new premises in 2010 and switch to IP.

The solution

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 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.

The Topic module is another important feature for Dundee city council. This web-based search engine allows operators to look up information on given projects, enabling them to offering insightful information on subjects they may not have been briefed on. This feature also allows operators who may have been out of the office on holiday or ill to get back up to speed quickly on any new projects or important developments.

The Datapulse VIOC, enables the visually impaired operator to handle calls with the same information and in the same time as the other operators. It relays on-screen information to the operator through synthetic speech and can also display this information in Braille when used with refreshable Braille displays.

Other features of the operator console include the ability for managers to supervise operator performance across multiple sites, and monitor call handling, response times, lost and abandoned calls, priority calls and other important information with ease and efficiency.

The new consoles were implemented over a weekend so there was no disruption to the call service. Operators were trained on the new system prior to the installation and had no problems migrating to it.

Bob Laird, Principal Administration Officer at Dundee city council says: "Our new operator consoles from Datapulse have hugely improved the way we interact with our local residents and has made our operators working day more productive and more fulfilling.

"Before we had the new operator system in place, operators would rely on paper-based notes and directories. Trying to get an update on a situation was very slow - it was like carrying out the Spanish inquisition! With the new consoles in place this is no longer the case and we are dealing with calls from our 142,000 residents in record time."

Eveline Dempster, Sales Manager for Scotland at Datapulse says: "Customer service and the perception of an organisation is often decided by the first contact a person has with that company or institution. The Datapulse Operator Module enables companies and organisations to offer a quick and effective response to calls to ensure that callers have an optimum first impression. "