The Netcall announcement of these figures follows a report by the National Audit Office which revealed that 21 million callers seeking advice on unemployment and disability benefits failed to get through to Government call centres in 2005. The same report confirmed that people were waiting for two weeks for a callback to confirm a job-seeking appointment. It called for Government call centres to address staffing issues and improve customer service levels.
Netcall’s UK channel partner, BT, deployed the hosted QueueBuster service for Lewisham Council in September 2005. The council reports that the solution has reduced call queues by up to 90 per cent, improved call centre staff efficiency by 10 per cent and cut abandoned call rates by half.
Netcall’s Technical Principal, Richard Farrell, says public sector organisations can improve their service and answer more calls without recruiting new staff or heavy investment in technology:
“Public sector call centres are experiencing increased pressure as the volume of calls continues to grow. Call centre queues can create a vicious circle of caller dissatisfaction, poor staff morale and even longer queues as callers are forced to hang up and call back repeatedly until they get through. However, there is just no need for callers to wait on hold or abandon calls any more.
Quelle/Source: Publictechnology, 08.06.2006
