Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Call Management System

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Clerk of the Superior Court (COSC) in Maricopa County services the needs of the public in the fourth largest court in the nation. As Maricopa County grew in population and the need for more court services expanded, the Clerk has risen to the demand by growing its services and personnel accordingly. Being an responsible steward of the public’s trust and tax dollars, the Clerk’s philosophy is to cautiously expend funds to those projects and systems which can deliver the best value proposition. Telephony has advanced markedly over the last two decades; however, large call center systems can cost millions of dollars and are typically reserved for private sector companies who have large call centers handling calls for profit. In a non-profit environment where calls are taken as a part of other primary service deliverables, it can be a challenge to prioritize a large capital expenditure when higher priority needs to be placed on systems to support the primary services of an agency’s service mandate. Consequently, over the course of time as demand for the COSC services changed and grew to accommodate the needs of the public, personnel were added along with additional individual telephone numbers to accommodate the caller’s needs. Fast forwarding to the present, the number of individual telephone numbers grew exponentially resulting in a platform where most public callers would direct dial to over 70 published individual desk telephones with individual telephone numbers, then subsequently be transferred to over 100 externally accessible unpublished telephone numbers in order to receive the information and service necessary to conduct their business needs. This platform did not allow for statistical data to adequately measure call volumes, call type and transfers. As a result, we were unable to adaquately streamline processes, deploy resources appropriately, route calls effectively, monitor quality assurance monitoring, and most importantly, provide the customer with a satisfactory call experience. The COSC worked in partnership with Maricopa County’s Office of Enterprise Technology (OET) and communications vendor, Avaya, to develop and implement the IVR call management system. The system was available as a result of a VoIP upgrade to the Maricopa County telephone system, consequently minimizing the cost of implementation for the COSC office to programming only. Through this effort, a telephone-button operated menu system was developed to allow callers to select options that best fit their needs to be routed directly to the appropriate area of the Clerk’s Office based on their particular needs and selections. Several goals of the system and process change were to enhance the caller experience, streamline the process and reduce cost. The Clerk’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) call management system project was implemented on May 19, 2014 and now provides a more effective and efficient process to manage an average 30,000 telephone calls monthly. The new system eliminated over 200 individual telephone numbers and provided the public with one main telephone number to call when contacting the organization [(602)37-CLERK / (602-372-5375)]. Additionally, desk phones were eliminated and replaced with softphone, enabling call handlers to manage call queues and incoming calls directly on the computer. Both accomplishments reduced monthly telephone charges for each telephone line, as well as the cost of telephone equipment. Additionally, the system furnishes a mechanism to measure and monitor call queues in real time and allows for better utilizization of personnel through statistical data. The Clerk’s Office can now mobilize call handling personnel where they are most needed at any given time of the day, based on analysis or real time activity within the queues. It offers the caller the ability to obtain information needed without speaking to staff as the menus are available 24-hours per day/7 days a week (staff is available during normal business hours). Ultimately, the system serves the primary goal of an improved customer service experience for the callers, better call management, statistical reporting and quality assurance opportunities.