1 / 27

Implementing a Call Center

Implementing a Call Center. ( Doing more with more!). Once upon a time…. …there was medium sized community college 36,000 duplicated headcount 9,000 FTE …located south of Portland OR …called Clackamas Community College (CCC). And they had issues…. Too many students

cain
Download Presentation

Implementing a Call Center

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Implementing a Call Center (Doing more with more!)

  2. Once upon a time… • …there was medium sized community college • 36,000 duplicated headcount • 9,000 FTE • …located south of Portland OR • …called Clackamas Community College (CCC)

  3. And they had issues… • Too many students • Not enough staff

  4. And a grumpy Registrar… • Tara Sprehe who oversaw: • Accounts Receivable (temporarily) • Admissions (processing) • Degree and transcript evaluation • Registration

  5. And her staff felt like this:

  6. Why? • The phones never stopped ringing • Students left the same message with multiple staff • Answering the phones meant staff couldn’t get processing done

  7. And the students felt like this:

  8. Why? • They couldn’t talk to a “live” person • Answers to questions never seemed to be the same • Processes took “forever”

  9. So the grumpy director said… • We have a new “communications system” • And we implemented a college-wide phone tree • So…what if we implemented a call center?

  10. What would we need? • Phone system • Space • Staff • Money – but how much and for how long?

  11. Phone System: • Already owned CISCO communication system (very robust) • College phone tree helps funnel callers • Created three “call centers” to respond from phone tree: • Enrollment Services (Cougar Call Center) • Spanish • Student Services

  12. Space • Space wasn’t really an issue at CCC • First call center was in one office with 6 call stations and coordinator – very, very tight! • cost nothing to build (took everything from surplus).

  13. Space continued: • In year two, moved to a new location of two adjoining offices (highly recommend) • Cost approx. $150.00 • How did we spend so little to provide 7 call stations? • Used surplus materials (get creative!) • ITS donated all the phones and computers through reallocation process • Purchased 2 white boards, misc. office supplies and materials for manuals

  14. And it looks like this:

  15. Staffing: • Hired one full-time classified Call Center Coordinator • Physically located in outer office which has two work stations • Provides quality assurance • Provides training • Assigns work projects during slow periods • Tracks data and provides reports • Trouble shoots all phone related challenges

  16. Staffing continued: • ESL department secretary responds to Spanish Call Center • Peer Assistants and FWS students from Student Academic Support Services (SASS) area respond to Student Services Call Center • Peer Assistants, and FWS students respond to Enrollment Services Call Center

  17. About those Peer Assistants: • Created a new program (Peer Assistants) in part to staff the Cougar Call Center • PA’s earn a tuition waiver: • Partial waiver for 110 hours of service per term (11 weeks) • Full waiver for 165 hours of services • Impacts college revenue

  18. Money • Start up costs were very low thanks to the creativity and diligence of the Call Center Coordinator. • Operates on annual budget of $70,000: • Annual salary • Travel/staff development • Office Supplies • Repair and maintenance

  19. Challenges to implementation… • Fear – departments said students couldn’t answer these questions. • Training – still needs work • Break weeks – hard to staff with students

  20. Success: • Actually saving the college money in staffing costs • Of the 14,916 calls received by the Cougar Call Center between July 1 and Dec. 31 of 2010, 4,927 (33%) were transferred to a specialist. • In the spring of 2012, we received 7,542 calls and 2,581 were transferred to specialists (34%).

  21. And the staff felt…

  22. Why? • The phones stopped ringing • They focused on processing which helped students • They felt calm, cool, and collected

  23. And the students felt…

  24. Why? • For the most part, they reach a live person each and every time they call • Answers to their questions are consistent • They connect to someone at the college -usually a peer!

  25. And there was much rejoicing. The End.

  26. Questions?

  27. Contact Information • Tara Sprehe • Director of Enrollment Management/Registrar • taras@clackamas.edu • 503-594-3370

More Related