Dorset Council signs services deal for contact centre

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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