Contact Handling Shared Service In-hours & Out-of-Hours

1. Customer service transformation. Savings-show-us-the-money Contact Handling Shared ServiceIn-hours & Out-of-Hours Mina Mistry Support and Service Development Officer Haringey Council Michelle Bernard Customer Services Project & Contract Manager Ealing Council Neil Darroch Client Director General Dynamics Information Technology

2. Ealing Council – Lead Client Michelle Bernard

3. What we will cover today? • The 2nd Generation of joint Out-of-Hours service • Implementation • Live operations • General Dynamics IT – Behind the scenes • How to join? • The future

4. The Nature of the contract • EU compliant 6 year Framework Contract • Expires end September 2018 – then retendered • Organisations sign detailed Access Agreement • Local service requirements are appended • Available to members of London Contracts & Supplies Group • Housing Associations, ALMO’s, Association of Greater Manchester and Public Sector Bodies in the South-East of England • Joining LCSG/AGMA is simple & free for public sector orgs. • Each organisation retains its own identity. • Robust contract T&Cs

5. Service Standards • Speed of call answering Gold/Silver options • Minimising abandoned calls • Speed of passing requests to duty staff/contractors • Meeting customer service standards • Ensuring full service availability • Compliance with escalation procedures • Effective contract management • Hours of operation to suit

6. New Features • Gold & Silver service standards • Gold – 80% in 20 secs & > 5% abandoned • Silver– 80% in 60 secs & >10% abandoned • Monthly management fee capped at £1k • Optional daytime call handling including • Taking payments • Direct use of back office systems • Support for the use of self-service solutions • Lone worker support service

7. Pricing • Full schedule of rates • No fee in comparison to the previous contract (agreed prior to entering the contract) • Price per call handled £2.55 Gold - £2.10 Silver • Monthly management fee £1000 (sliding scale) • Outgoing calls £1.20 per minute • No charge for emails, £0.05 for SMS or Pager • Value Money Review in 2015 • Agreed formula for TUPE costs

8. What’s in it for your organisation? • Significant financial savings • Raising service standards • Process documentation & improvement • Increased service clarity • Audit trails • Comprehensive service monitoring • Avoid expensive procurement

9. TUPE • TUPE regulations • 1981 and 2006 regulations • Duty to inform and consult staff representatives • Provide employee information (General Dynamics IT) • Pensions • GAD certificate of comparability

10. Current Organisations Over 300,00 out-of-hours calls handled per annum

11. Central Client Role • Support • Guidance • Escalation • Fortnightly Operational Conference Call • Sharing Best Practice

12. Joint operational management board • Quarterly Contracts Board Meeting • Partnership Working • Sharing of Best Practice • Identifying new requirements • Suggestions & Innovating Ideas

13. Benefits & Achievements • Collective savings of over a million pounds • Quality and standards improvement • Partnership working • Best practice • Aiming for affordable excellence in customer service provision

14. A users experience – Haringey Mina Mistry

15. Haringay Overview • Joined in August 2009 • 25 Service Descriptions • Top 3 enquiry areas – General, Noise, Social Services • Average 2,500 – 3,000 calls per month • £133,771 savings in first year (including set up costs)

16. Implementation Experience • 3 – 6 months preparations needed • Service descriptions • Development of scripts • Back office ownership is critical • Accurate information from the back offices

17. Service Operations (1) • Service management and liaison • Escalation arrangements • Complaint handling • Rota changes • Amendments to services

18. Know your own business • Call volumes • Incoming and outgoing • Data transfer methods • Telephony diverts • User acceptance testing

19. Service operations (2) • Bad weather • Major emergencies • Special announcements • Business continuity plans • Performance reports • Daily, weekly and monthly

20. Benefits • Seamless transition to out of hours services • Measure of performance output communicated regularly • Maintaining customer service standards at all times • Excellent tracking system for non-conformance, change requests and queries • Call recordings available for quality management • Ultimate professional touch for your business!

21. Contact Handling Shared Service In-hours & Out-of-Hours Neil Darroch Client Director Customer service transformation. Savings-show-us-the-money

22. About the Service • Resilient operation centres • 24 x 7 Call Centre since 2005 • Managed services for multiple local government / social housing landlords • Dual operation centres located in London and Yorkshire • Contingency capability/crisis management • Business continuity Contact Handling Shared Service • Agile service • Service level choice Silver/Gold • Select standard or bespoke call handling processes • Services can be added or removed at any time • Clear evolutionary path to channel shift

23. Example Out-of-Hours Services

24. Technology-enabled contact handling • Integration potential e.g. Northgate • Complete & consistent quality interactions • Processes fully scripted and interactive • Rules for hand-offs, rotas & escalation • Call recording audit & traceability • Easy to add, change or remove services • Client portal: reports, change requests, audit trails

25. Service Delivery Call Handling Service Fulfillment Shift Handover Governance Customer View • Calls regular service number • Call presented to Shared Service Centre • Call answered as Authority • Immediate transfer to fulfilment • SMS, Email, Phone or back office handoff • Critical Services Confirm recipient, handover & incident coordination. • All incidents handed over, highlighting major, contentious & open issues • Daily download of data file made available • Account Director • Account Management team • Framework board • Operational board • Reviews and reporting • Continuous improvement • Identifiesauthority • Repeat caller identified • Call purpose validated • Interactive script guides agent through agreed process • Action identified & confirmed to caller

26. “Show me the money” Avoidance of expensive procurement Free to join the contract (wide range of service descriptions and procedures available as standard) £ Economies of scale provide growing financial savings Savings of up to 70% - significant savings when compared with the costs of running an in-house service

27. Free Support for interested organisations • Full contract documentation • Set of detailed guidance notes • Sample feasibility study • Advice and support from early adopters • Ready Reckoner • General Dynamics IT

28. The Future • Interested Parties – including Authorities • Housing organisations and other government bodies • Partnering outside London • Better & larger Service

29. Contact Handling Shared Service In-hours & Out-of-Hours Michelle Bernard Customer Services Project & Contract Manager Tel: 02088256522 Mobile: 07961200022 Email: bernardm@ealing.gov.uk Neil Darroch Client Director General Dynamics Information Technology Tel: 020 7939 3623 Mobile: 07585 964715 Email: neil.darroch@gdit.com