Transcript Discussion Regarding the Customer Service Call Center

Discussion Regarding the
Customer Service Call Center
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Tom O’Neill
Technology Department
March 13, 2013
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Customer Service Call Center
The Past (through 2010)
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In-house Customer Call Center including Customer Relations
15 Total Employees (11 Clerks, 3 Sr. Clerks and 1 Supervisor)
Multi-lingual Staff included Chinese, Tagalog and Spanish
TTY Service available for the hearing impaired
Average monthly call volume
– More than 35,000 calls offered
– More than 25,000 answered (Mar thru Oct 2010)
– High Abandoned rates (ranged from 25% in Apr, 2010 to high of 39% in Sep,
Click2010)
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• Average Call Length: 2 minutes, primarily due to well-trained,
knowledgeable clerks - large majority of calls were ‘next bus’
• Annual cost > $1.2 million
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Customer Service Call Center
The Present – Part 1
• Contracted Customer Call Center
– Operated by American Customer Care (ACC); call center located in
Iowa; no other transit-related customers
• Calls handled by a ‘blended’ pool of agents with four
“dedicated” staff who handle other calls between ACT calls
• Service for hearing impaired is provided
• Translation services available March 2013
• Hours of Operation
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– Same
AC Transit’s
former internal call center (7-7 weekdays, 9-5 weekends)
• Call Center responds to telephone trip planning and travel
planning calls; and transcribes complaints, commendations
and comments then routes to appropriate departments
• District staff investigates and responds to customers
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Customer Service Call Center
The Present – Part 2
• The ACC call center’s performance continues to meet contract
requirements
• Call statistics continue to improve in all areas
– Monthly call volume averaging < 9,000 (2012)
• 9000 calls/month / 30 days/month = 300 calls/day or 27/hour on average
• 84% are Trip Planning or “where’s my bus?” questions
• 14% are Complaints/Commendations or other
– Low abandoned call rates < 3.8% (2012)
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– Good average speed of answer at 20.6 seconds (July-Dec 2012)
– Average call length is 3.5 minutes (2012)
• Shorter than 2011 but still almost twice as long as in 2010
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Customer Service Call Center
The Future – Part 1
• Three year contract with ACC expires in September 2013
– Fixed cost is $20.4k monthly, $245k annually
– Two one-year option years are available
• Bringing these jobs back to our Service Area’s economy
makes sense
– Local call center staff should be more familiar with local landmarks,
events and impacts on our system
• Call center to focus on travel information, trip planning, and
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logging
customer
complaints,
comments & commendations
• Have staff dedicated to ACT but increase as needed based on
monthly and seasonal norms
• Expand hours of operation to better match service peaks
(e.g., start at 6 a.m. on weekdays instead of 7 a.m.)
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Customer Service Call Center
The Future – Part 2
• In-house Customer Services team:
– Add one-two internal staff to work with OCC and Transportation on
complaint & commendation investigations, responses to customers, and
communication to Call Center of service delays & interruptions
– Provide feedback loop to Planning staff based on complaint patterns
• Make customer service more effective and efficient in keeping
with the way people get their information today:
– 511 IVR system (encourage MTC to add a multi-lingual capability)
– Websites: actransit.org, NextBus.com and 511.org
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– 511
and Master
other mobile
apps, Twitter and other Social Media
– Email lists via GovDelivery
– Printed information for distribution
– User information at bus stops and transit centers
– Real-time information with respect to delays, cancellations &
detours via 511.org, NextBus, and more
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Customer Service Call Center
Trade Offs
ACTION
Locating the Call Center within
the East Bay
Locating the Call Center in the
East Bay
IMPACT
Possible higher cost per call
Greater potential for
collaboration and cooperation
with OCC
Increasing the size of the AC
Higher cost for complaint
Transit
Customer
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Enhancing use of Social Media
to deliver rider information
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Can reduce ACT’s cost of
providing user information and
allows for delivery of real time
information using Twitter and
Facebook
TRADE OFF
CSRs who are more familiar
with the AC Transit Service Area
who can provide higher quality
information
Providing real time information
and solutions for riders
Quicker resolution of rider
complaints results in increased
rider loyalty
Establishes AC Transit as a
leader in the use of Social Media
to deliver rider information
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Customer Service Call Center
Next Steps
• Balance traditional and emerging information tools, expanding
new technologies, especially mobile solutions
• Develop Request for Proposals for a call center located in the
East Bay to answer rider information calls with multilingual
capabilities
– Staff report to Board March 27, 2013
– RFP to be issued in April, 2013
• Click
New/improved
to include real time data so agents can
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provide immediate responses to some customers
• Formalize the Customer Relations capability including
adopting and implementing standards for complaint resolution
and response
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