Providing a helpline from distributed offices
The organisation
Sitra is a policy and information resource for organisations providing housing and support services. They are recognised by government as being representative of the sector and offer consultancy, training and advice services through regional offices based across the UK, and provide a specialist advice helpline.
The challenge
The nature of their business requires Sitra to have highly skilled consultants available to a large number of clients across the UK. With only small numbers of specialist staff available at distributed locations, Sitra therefore needed to be able to distribute calls from the public telephone network automatically to a number of regional offices, in order to be able to answer calls to their advice helpline.
The solution
Square Systems installed a flexible IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system that can intelligently route calls from a single contact number. Calls are announced to staff to enable them to accept or reject the call. If no staff are available to take the call, the call is routed to another office.
The system can be managed from any of the offices, so that the supervisor does not need to be rooted in a single location. Each office has the ability to control the number of staff at any time or day available to take calls, ensuring the best use of resource for all activities within the business.
The benefits
This innovative and cost-effective solution provided Sitra with the big company benefits of a hosted contact centre, whilst minimising capital expenditure. The system enabled staff to cover the helpline from a set of distributed offices including home working. This built-in flexibility released time and resources for other tasks and meant that staff time spent servicing the helpline was highly cost-efficient.
The full story
As small organisations provide complex services to a broad client base the need for flexibility to take enquiries is essential when only small numbers of specialist staff are available at distributed sites.
The ability to monitor and manage the call flow whilst keeping the best resource available can be achieved by employing a flexible IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system that can intelligently route calls from a single contact number. An advanced IVR solution such as this is used by SITRA to create a virtual call centre, connecting callers to remote specialists seamlessly, efficiently and professionally.
SITRA is the leading agency in the provision of training, consultancy and information to the supported housing sector. The aim of SITRA is to provide policy makers and practitioners with accurate, up to date and timely information on all areas of supported housing and related issues. Within this sector, SITRA’s policy advisors and trainers have earned a reputation for their commitment to providing best practice in the design, commissioning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of services.
With the introduction of the national Supporting People Helpline, SITRA needed to provide easy access to information and advice via a central telephone number.
In consultation with SITRA, the solution provided by Square Systems allows SITRA to receive calls via a central 0870 number, queue them as required, and distribute them to a consultant in a regional office. The routing logic provided by the system ensures that all calls are dealt with by the most appropriate consultant. Should a consultant be unable to handle a particular call due to local circumstances, the system automatically routes calls to an alternative regional office.
The solution's flexibility also included the ability to manage the system using the Internet, thereby allowing SITRA to manage their virtual call centre from any location. SITRA also have the ability to control the number of staff that are available to take calls at any time or day, ensuring the best use of resource for all activities within the organisation.
This innovative and cost effective solution provided SITRA with the big company benefits of a hosted contact centre whilst minimising capital expenditure.