Phone calls

Was catching up on my Macclesfield Express reading, and was yet again blown away by Barlow and his complaints about the new council phone system.

I'd been keeping a low profile about this, but the sharp witted of you will know that I work with Call Centres. To be specific, I tell people when is the right and wrong time to use these kinds of systems...so I'm really in the thick of it.

But if I'm honest, I find it a pretty easy job to do. It's a carrot and a stick kind of thing. It you push people into using a rubbish system then they're going to get upset about it. If you provide a system that's quicker, more reliable and with more functionality than speaking to a live agent, it will be very popular.

This wasn't a decision I pushed for, but I did discuss it with David a few months back and I think it's a good idea. It's all in the design and implementation of these things. As long as MBC get that bit right then it should be a success.

Barlow may complain about the (one off) setup costs, but he has failed to understand the enormous (daily) cost of handling phone calls to the council. If people choose to use this system rather than a live agent the savings to the council will be many, many times the original investment.

And unlike Journalists, when we save money we don't spend it on the Christmas party. We use it to reduce council tax.