Call Accounting Can Help Boost Customer Service Within Government
March 12, 2015
By Mae Kowalke
TMCnet Contributor
The ultimate goal, both in the public and the private sector, is assured delivery, accessibility and satisfaction of services. Yet, the private sector often bests the public sector in terms of customer satisfaction. This need not be the case.
One of the big reasons for this discrepancy between public and private sector is the lack of competition in the public sector. Not having a competitor, often the mindset prevails that customers “get what they get.” Of course, this undermines good customer service.
Changing that mentality is hard. But while government works on that problem, there is another and far more accessible factor in the customer service equation: the private sector has better tools for meeting customer needs. This is an area where the public sector can make more rapid progress in the goal of improving satisfaction.
One big area of improvement is the use of mobile phones. Mobility is a game-changing technological advance, and one that businesses are using to better serve customers. The pubic sector is far behind on this evolution, and that is hindering customer service opportunities.
Part of why government is not moving so fast in terms of mobility is the sheer complexity of managing mobile telecom usage and spend. It is one thing to manage and monitor an office phone network, it is another thing entirely to manage a disparate set of mobile devices and service plans.
Call accounting solutions such as ISI’s (News - Alert) Infortel Select can make the tracking and monitoring of mobile devices within the public sector significantly easier.
Infotel Select, for instance, can help reconcile carrier bills and both audit and optimize those bills. It can manage wireless services, and both track call activity and prevent abusive calling.
Its wireless features are particularly useful. It delivers a way to manage the devices that government provides, and helps optimize rate plans according to situations. Based on three-month averages, Infortel Wireless Manager can flag abnormalities to provide management a means to make adjustments.
While changing the mindset within some departments of government might take time, giving public sector employees the tools they need to better serve the customer can happen much more quickly. With a good call accounting solution, giving employees these tools is a lot easier.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi