Somerset County Council Customer Services team named best in the South West
Somerset County Council’s Contact Centre has been recognised for its outstanding work supporting residents who call up the council for help.
The SCC Contact Centre was named the South West Contact Centre Forum (SWCCF) ‘Contact Centre of the Year – in house’ winner for 2022.
The Contact Centre team deal with more than 300,000 interactions each year, and these can range from a few minutes in length to well over an hour in order to achieve the right outcome for the person contacting the Council.
Cllr Liz Leyshon, Somerset County Council Executive Lead Member for Finance and Human Resources, said:
“This is a fantastic achievement and I want to congratulate the Contact Centre team for all their hard work.
“Frontline customer services is not an easy role, and some of these interactions can be challenging and emotional, but the staff have demonstrated how knowledgeable, flexible and empathetic they are.
“They use their skills to provide information about the wide and varied services that the Council provides, offering a successful first point of contact for anyone who needs help in Somerset.
“The team has received lots of positive feedback where customers have expressed their thanks to the Contact Centre staff for being helpful, friendly and patient.
”Not only are the Contact Centre team skilled when it comes to helping residents, but they also help the Council to improve the services it provides by offering valuable feedback to the appropriate teams.”
Below are two recent examples of feedback the Contact Centre team has received from customers:
“The lady I spoke to this morning was very polite and very helpful, and I really appreciated it as I have been going through a rough time.”
“I spoke to a gentleman and he was absolutely helpful. He went out of his way to help me as I don’t have anybody around me who can help me. I couldn’t have wished for a better person to answer the phone and help me as I’m not very good at it.”
The SWCCF awards are open to public and private sector contact centres, are judged by industry experts, and each one requires a detailed submission with evidence, a presentation and a panel interview.
SWCCF is an industry–led member’s forum collaborating with and supporting the customer contact hubs and centres in the South West of England.
For additional information on SWCCF visit their Website
