Impact

Innovation

One of the problems faced by social security was the lack of consistency in information provided to citizens. Different face-to-face service desks could provide quite different information regarding the same issue, product, or service. This caused un-satisfaction and mistrust, on the way some citizens perceived the quality of service provided by the Institute for Social Security. This problem was mainly due to the inexistence of a comprehensive, up-to-date, easy-to-use, understand and share, service-orientated, and citizen-relationship focused knowledge base. To support VIA, it became necessary to document all the detailed and relevant information regarding all products and services, covered by Social Security, on scripts. These were built by using a “plain language” and fixed “questions & answers” approach, with the help of an external and specialized consultant in that area, that worked directly with the internal experts in each social security area, thus involving them in the project. More than 100 scripts were written, covering all products. The scripts became available on the knowledge base that directly supports the work of all the front and back-office operators of VIA. All information is maintained and updated in real-time, by a knowledge base management team that works permanently and closely with the internal experts. The extensive one month training programme, provided by internal experts to the operators and team leaders who participated in the start-up of VIA was also largely based on the scripts.

Another important aspect to address was the need for VIA operators to quickly, easily, and securely, consult specific data registered in the process file of a citizen, or a business company, during a call, and after proper authentication. The approach and solution to this involved the identification, by experienced internal staff, of all relevant data fields to be displayed, in order to achieve an 80%, or plus, first-call answer rate, and an average talk time of 4 minutes, per call. The next step was taken by IT Institute experts by specifically developing a technical layer of data, and information tabs, to enable VIA operators to consult real-time data, and easily navigate through each different file, via web service, i.e. interoperability.

Impact

The infrastructures and facilities for the contact centre operation were obtained through a partnership and protocol that was agreed upon between the Institute for Social Security, and the City Council of Castelo Branco. Almost 100% of VIA’s staff is recruited from this district, thus creating new employment opportunities for skilled resources in that inner region.

The new work process designs and the innovative organizational chart, proposed by the consultants that gave assistance on this activity of the project plan were implemented, and caused impact on previously existing work processes, and on their management approach. Many key players in the organization are now focusing their efforts towards responding better, and more efficiently, to citizens needs. One of the key drivers for this change lies in the working procedures put in place through the contact centre’s 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd line support teams. The 1^st line is currently formed by 120 attendance positions, that can either respond to telephony contacts (inbound or call-backs), or to e-mail and fax contacts. The front-office versus back-office roles can be played dynamically by the operators, according to the volume of waiting calls at each time-period. The minimum SLA currently defined for first call responses is 80% and additionally all e-mails and faxes must be answered within 48 (working) hours. When the response cannot be given on the first-call, the 1^st line creates a service order (a request) and sends it by e-mail to the 2^nd line support. This 2^nd line is formed by in-house staff with deep knowledge and experience on social security products and services. The SLA to respond is 48 working hours. In more complex cases, the request can be forwarded by 2^nd line to 3^rd line (the knowledge base management team). The status and SLA of each request is controlled by Altitude software’s in-built and custom built reports. This model is significantly enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the organizations capacity to respond in time, to citizens requests.

Results

The results obtained so far are good and seem to point towards a bright future ahead:

User satisfaction inquiries are performed weekly by an independent company specialized in market research and customer satisfaction inquiries. The sample is random, and more than 20 questions are answered in order to evaluate 4 main satisfaction drivers, i.e. level of satisfaction with the service regarding each contact, waiting time until call is answered by an operator, the kindness and availability of the operator, and the knowledge demonstrated regarding the subject of each call. These inquiries have consistently obtained a global score above 4 points, in a scale that ranges from 1 to 5 (maximum).

The average volume of contacts per month already exceeds 120.000, and is growing. The plan is to achieve a cruise volume of 15.000 contacts per day, adding up to 3,7 million contacts per year. This will mainly derive from shifting contacts away from face to face services, but will also contain some new demand, captured due to the existence of a new and easy to access channel. The expected savings on travel and waiting hours, by shifting demand to VIA, add up to 3,8 million per year, thus representing a cost saving of 12 million EUR per year, on GNP.

Service levels are good, and improving, i.e. First-call answer rate is 90 % on average; 91% of all calls are answered within 60 seconds by an operator; 90% of e-mails and faxes are answered within 2 days.

The impact of this project is sustainable and the demand on this channel is expected to grow up to 5,1 million contacts per year, in a three to four years period.

Track record of sharing

Sharing knowledge base information:

·         The scripts that support contact centre knowledge base are being shared with face to face attendance, and are also available to the entire organization via the intranet. This is an advantage that is leveraging the quality and the consistency of the information that is given to users ( citizens and business entities), regardless of the contact channel they use.

·         Very similar information can also be accessed by citizens or business entities, via the internet on www.seg-social.pt on the format of practical guides for each product or service.

Sharing the aggregate data layer:

·         The technical layer of aggregate data, and information tabs, that was developed for VIA operators to consult real-time data is in plan to be extended to approximately 1.800 face to face attendance positions, during 2010.

Other public sector actors like the Employment and Professional Training Institute (IEFP) have shown their interest in sharing the knowledge and experience acquired with this project, and several meetings have been already held for that purpose.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1: It's natural to resist change however very good cooperation can be obtained when a proper communication strategy is put in place, to inform everyone of what we are doing, and why. It is also very important to listen to the objections and concerns placed by every party.

Lesson 2:  Planning the project in detail, appropriately sharing it, and effectively controlling the roll-out of each activity and task, drives to better results, and increases the probability of success, i.e. completion according to the time plan.

Lesson 3: Cooperation between a public and a private entity, e.g. an outsourcer, can produce great results, providing the roles, responsibilities, and service level agreements are well defined for each party. With proper training and the appropriate tools, it’s perfectly possible to outsource a service, even a complex one.