Dorset County Council has signed a £2.8 million, three
and a half year deal with Steria, an IT services company, to build
and manage a customer contact centre.
The centre would give the public a direct line to the council,
allowing enquiries to be resolved at the first point of contact,
the council said. Last year the council handled almost 800,000
telephone enquiries from customers.
The new contact centre, named Dorset Direct, would become part
of the council’s customer care strategy.
Elaine Taylor, Dorset County Council’s Director for Corporate
Resources said, “Steria has a broad experience of working with
organisations across the public and commercial sector. It will
assist us in creating a high quality contact centre that allows us
to be more customer-focused and efficient.”
Dorset Direct is designed to provide a direct line for customers
to call, allowing enquiries to be dealt with on a ‘one and done’
basis and reducing the amount of time that callers spend on the
phone.
Having one central point of contact will make it easier to log
and track enquiries, helping the council identify any recurring
community issues.
Councillor Alan Havelock, cabinet member for corporate resources
at Dorset County Council, said: “Dorset Direct will greatly improve
the way the council communicates with its customers, building on
the best traditions of customer service that already exist across
the authority.”
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Dorset County Council website >>
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