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More than 24 staffers added to
improve service level ofcall center
BY YUDISLAIDY FERNANDEZ
In recent months, Miami -
Dade County's 311 information
line has been lacking in services
provided to City of Miami resi-
dents under a five -year -old
agreement, audits show.
County officials have re-
sponded by adding nearly two
dozen permanent staffers to
handle calls.
Call audits from October re-
vealed holes in the quality of
services, with some callers fac-
ing long waits and others being
misinformed by center opera-
tors.
The audits uncovered issues
such as staff not adhering to set
policies and procedures when
handling calls, said Jorge
Gomez, the county's call center
manager.
Concerns continued in No-
vember, when the answer speed
for calls made by. City of Miami
residents averaged 4.3 minutes.
The target is 90 seconds or less.
"We wanted to make sure they
were doing a better job in that
area," said Vanessa Morales-
Baltar, the city's 311 special
projects coordinator.
The city's 311 staff main-
tains and updates all databases
related to city `services, moni-
tors work orders and conducts
its own call reviews.
To address the audits, the
county's call center put forth a
corrective plan in December.
The county pulled together a
team of trainers and supervi-
sors to meet with all call opera-
tors to discuss existing prob-
lems, clarify procedures and
review how to handle calls, Mr.
Gomez said. He said about 700
past calls were also evaluated.
The center is also beefing up
personnel, adding to its payroll
this month 30 hires, of whom
23 are permanent and seven tem-
We keep checking
that the -service
continues to improve
and doesn't slip.'
Don Riedel
Its our
responsibility and our
commitment to provide
accurate information.'
Becky Jo Glover
p orary.
"People are calling in and us-
ing the service," said Becky Jo
Glover, 311 call center assis-
tant director. "It's our respon-
sibility and our commitment to
provide accurate information."
The center handles 8,000 to
10,000 calls on a regular work-
day. About 7% are related to
city programs and services,
center officials say.
After quality of calls dipped in
November, corrective actions
are proving effective, officials
say.
The review of 790 calls in late
December showed an increase
in call quality reaching 95%,
Ms. Glover said.
Although the call center as-
sists residents countywide, Mi-
ami is the only city for which
the center provides personal-
ized services; she said, listing
300-plus topics and able to
handle more than 60 service
requests.
More than five years ago, the
city and county teamed up to
WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009
create the 311 line to provide
residents with information on a
wide variety of services.
At the time both planned to
launch a 311 call center. In-
stead, they decided to combine
their services, said Don Riedel,
director of Miami's 311 team.
In 2003, the county and city
signed an agreement in which
Miami gave the rights it had
secured from BellSouth for the
311 number to the county along
with a $450,000 grant to man-
age the city's system, he said.
"I think the partnership ben-
efits both the city and county.
It's the best use of taxpayers'
dollars," he said. "It would have.
been expensive to staff our own
call center."
The county conducts its own
call audits.
Some of those calls are made
in-house and others by the
Florida International
University's secret shopper pro-
gram, which the county hires to
conduct calls for quality assur-
ance and training.
The university places about
100 county -related calls and 25
city calls monthly to 311 in
English, Spanish and Creole.
Ms. Glover, of the county,
said the purpose of the secret
shopper calls is to have an inde-
pendent. tool to measure the
quality of service and accuracy
of information 311 operators
provide.
The call center is also send-
ing the city weekly reports of
audits and the city is conduct-
ing its own quality audits to
make sure the service is im-
proving, the city's 311 call team
told city officials in an e-mail.
"The county has been work-
ing with us to fix quality prob-
lems," Mr. Riedel said. "We
keep checking that the service
continues to improve and
doesn't slip."
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