2 April 2003

AUDITOR GENERAL CALLS ON STATE GOVERNMENT CALL CENTRES TO IMPROVE THEIR LEVELS OF SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC

An examination by the WA Auditor General's Office of how effectively six selected public sector call centres are performing has found that whilst most are providing a satisfactory service to their customers, there is considerable scope for improvement - especially at the Department for Planning and Infrastructure Licensing and Office of State Revenue call centres.

Des Pearson's review, tabled in Parliament today, included an independent telephone assessment of the six call centres which reveals that whilst most callers can expect satisfaction when dealing with the centres, some 16% of the assessment's calls resulted in an "unsatisfactory experience".

Commenting today on this result Mr Pearson said: "In terms of customer satisfaction, whilst 16% may appear a relatively low figure, if this situation were to be projected across the other 30 plus government call centres, we can reasonably gauge there could be a significant number of callers whose experience has been less than positive.

"When combined with the examination's findings regarding customer access, operator service and accuracy of responses it indicates to me that there is obviously room for improvement."

Key findings detailed in his report " Customer Calling: Call Centres and the Delivery of Customer Benefits" include:

• Some 24% (45,222) of calls to the Office of State Revenue call centre and 17% (227,000) of calls to DPI Licensing were abandoned, compared with an industry mean of only 5%.
• While most callers to each of the six call centres were likely to be connected to operators in less than 60 seconds, only 52% of calls to the DPI Licensing call centre were in answered in 60 seconds - compared with 71 to 87% for the other call centres monitoring this measure (the industry standard target being 80% in 20 seconds).
• Though most callers to the centres were likely to receive courteous, confident service, the independent telephone assessment found up to 30% of operators did not achieve rapport with callers and similarly did not give the impression of being genuinely interested.
• Five of the six call centres examined had not established adequate monitoring and assessment of the benefits to customers and costs to agencies, with the Water Corporation call centre the only centre which comprehensively monitored performance and which consistently achieved performance ratings to industry standard.
• Most callers to the centres receive accurate information.
• While agencies encourage customers to use call centres to obtain services, four of the six agencies could more clearly advertise the hours of access.

Mr Pearson further commented that a positive aspect of his review was that the agencies involved had indicated they generally had found the examination a helpful experience - advising that the findings provided confirmation of their own monitoring and would be a valuable tool in improving performance.

"Such feedback shows that this performance examination will contribute to improved levels of service to the public of Western Australia," he said.

Ends/.

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