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MVD looking online for better customer serviceMay 13, 2009 (The Portales News-Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- a30 Long waits and frustrating automated call systems with the state Motor Vehicle Division could be on their way out, according to the state official overseeing the division. Secretary of the Taxation and Revenue Department Rick Homans was in Portales on Wednesday to explain plans to put many MVD functions online, streamline office operations and update call center technology. "What we want to create is as many options as possible for our customers to do business with us," he said. Portales MVD office manager Terry Encinias was optimistic about the intended changes. "I just think it's going to be good," she said. In the next few days, Homans said, he expects to sign a contract with the company NIC USA to establish an online platform for citizens to conduct business with the MVD. "We don't have anything like this right now," he said. "So a big move over the next few years will be to move all the services we can online." Homans expects the site to be running with some services by October or November. The Web site is to allow customers to handle vehicle registration, order personalized license plates and make appointments for driver tests. Also, the Web site will allow the sale of drivers' license and records information online, as privacy laws allow, Homans said. Detailed laws dictate who can have what information for what purpose, he said. Businesses such as insurance companies and those that employ a lot of drivers want that information quickly, he said, and safeguards will protect data from people not legally allowed to have it. Other changes are also planned, all designed to make MVD "work for our customers," the agency reports. In field offices, planned improvements include instituting express lanes for simple transactions and having temporary workers fill in when clerks are absent or on their staggered lunch breaks from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At that time, Homans said, customer volume is the highest, and people see a big line and one clerk. "They're inconvenienced," Homans said. Homans also wants to collect customer e-mail addresses to automatically communicate information about expiring vehicle registration. Changes will be implemented in phases to keep wait times from getting too long while employees are learning new procedures, he said. ec5 To see more of The Portales News-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pntonline.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Portales News-Tribune, N.M. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |