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December 2006 · Volume 88 · Number 11
Customer Service Is Just 3 Digits Away in San AntonioLocal governments exist to serve the needs of their residents, but determining the needs of these customers is not a simple task, whether in a community of a few thousand people or in a city with millions of residents. Defining and providing excellent customer service in local government also differs from these processes regarding customer service in the business community. Local governments must provide equitable services to all residents, whereas businesses can vary their service levels based on a customer's ability to pay. So, how do local governments determine customer needs and offer better customer service to their residents?
One way is for localities to reach out to their citizens, providing different communication channels through which residents can report their needs. One new technology, 311 call-center systems, can significantly aid cities and counties by opening such a channel. By establishing an easy-to-use, central number-311-for receiving customer input and requests, local governments can track which services are needed and where. Data collected through such an effort build a foundation for the local government to better understand and respond to community needs, thereby improving its overall customer service. With funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, ICMA is undertaking a national study of 311 and related customer service technologies to explore the benefits of and barriers to local governments' adopting such feedback systems for enhancing customer service and pinpointing indicators of successful system implementation. ICMA studied the customer service/311 department in San Antonio, Texas, as the first in a series of five in-depth case studies, which will explore current practices and successful implementation of coordinated 311 systems for customer service. This article is based on a detailed case-study report on San Antonio's 311 system, part of the series Call 311: Connecting Citizens to Local Government, which can be downloaded at no cost at http://www.icma.org/311study. SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY AND MAJOR FEATURESSan Antonio created its 311 system by building on legacy systems already in use within the local government. Four departments-environmental services, public works, animal care, and code compliance-partnered with the 311 call center on the intake of service requests from citizens. Before establishing the new 311 system, each department maintained its own call center, work-order management system, and relational database. Department employees were familiar with operating these systems and satisfied with their performance. City management believed, however, that centralizing access to these services by unifying the four call-center functions would improve customer service by lessening drop-call rates, reducing wait times, and serving as a feedback loop to improve accountability. The challenge in establishing the call center was to create an overlay application that could work with each of these four systems, taking in new data from calls made to the city and then transferring these data into the existing systems. The solution required each department's system to be linked to a central computer and telephone network. The city's information technology services department (ITSD) took the lead in programming the computer and phone systems into an integrated network. ITSD "worked to identify which city services and departments would have calls routed to the 311 call center. The purpose was to set up a system where the 311 call takers could help the citizens with the information and solve their problems on the first call. If not, then the call takers should be able to transfer the calls out to the different departments," said Jose Medina, a member of ITSD. While the 311 customer service representatives (CSRs) are trained to serve as comprehensive information resources for the city, they cannot be intimately familiar with the workings of all departments. One of the key features built into San Antonio's system provides a script from the departments for the services they deliver. The script is a directory that 1) uses key numbers and words so that CSRs can look up additional information on a topic and 2) gives the CSR a set group of questions to ask the caller. These questions permit the customer service representatives to target more efficiently the caller's specific need and to relay this information to the appropriate department for work-order processing. Other characteristics of the system allow for even better technological integration, service tracking, and system management. The system works with three other complementary features:
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT AND PUBLIC OUTREACHThe 311 system opened a new channel for citizens to communicate their needs and wants to the city of San Antonio. Before implementation of the 311 system, citizens had to guess which department they should call with a service request. "Sometimes, they found themselves in a maze trying to find the right person to resolve a problem," said Liz Garcia with the code compliance department. The 311 system serves as a central point at which to contact the city with a request and to know that the request will be addressed promptly. "Our residents have this city service available to them, and they know it works for them. People continue to use it, and it lets residents know they can get involved." Alyssa Muñoz, former chief of staff for Art Hall, City Council District 8. The city has used several methods of conducting outreach and promoting interest in 311 among citizens. An organized public relations campaign was rolled out tentatively to manage the estimated level of initial interest in and hence citizen calls into 311. The director of 311 wanted to ensure that the center would be able to handle the call volume in order to meet the 311 objective of enhancing the efficiency and quality of customer service interactions. The city council was briefed first and given information on the 311 system. Then, they started meeting with and handing out 311 brochures to their community representatives, neighborhood associations, and other constituent organizations to promote awareness of the system. Next, the director of customer service/311 began doing radio interviews. The strategic promotion of the 311 system avoided huge spikes in call volume and high lost-call rates. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND SERVICE PROVISIONBy setting up the customer service/311 system, San Antonio began a series of changes that greatly contributed to the development of performance measurement and service-level agreements within the municipal government. Prior to 311, the four primary city departments had lost-call rates ranging from 25 to 35 percent. The 311 system set a goal of reducing the ratio of lost calls to 12 percent in its first year of operation.
To achieve this goal, managers of the 311 call center examined their own internal operations and decided to set individual performance measures for the center's CSRs, who handle the incoming calls. CSRs are expected to routinely meet the following standards:
In looking at the bigger picture of how San Antonio serves its customers, the city noted early on that making a service-level agreement (SLA) with each of the four major departments using the call center was highly desirable. SLAs commit a city department to respond to a service request within a specified time. Public works, for example, has committed itself to fixing potholes within 48 hours after a service request. The fact that SLAs have been made with the city departments has enabled call-center staff to inform San Antonio citizens when they can expect to have their problems resolved. And because citizens have a time frame during which they can expect the problem to be solved, repeated service requests for the same problem are not as prevalent as they used to be. The result of the performance standards and service-level agreements is that the volume of calls from residents has risen significantly since the inception of the 311 call center (see above).
STAFF TRAININGAnother important element of the San Antonio 311 call center is staff training for the center's CSRs. As noted, the 311 CSRs are trained to serve as comprehensive information resources for the city. They must be familiar with all of the services offered by the four partner departments, as well as maintain a working knowledge of other city programs for referral purposes. Not only are CSRs given intensive initial training—four to six weeks—when they are first hired, but they also receive ongoing training and information updates routinely. Supervisors coach CSRs on their performance and offer such incentives as free lunches or time off as rewards for outstanding work. The focus is on maintaining a positive work environment. |
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