**********************************
The 1823 Call Centre in 2009 handled almost three million calls and more than 100,000 emails from the public. This is triple the volume handled when the centre was established in 2001. Public satisfaction with the service has never been higher and staff and services won numerous awards during the year. In late December, the centre received the five millionth call made to its distinct, easy to remember number 1823.
Since 2001, the 1823 Call Centre has received approximately 16.5 million incoming calls from the public. The Call Centre now answers public enquiries on behalf of 20 different Government departments. Members of the public can directly call the 1823 number or use the telephone number of departments using the Call Centre services and they will get quick, consistent, courteous response to their enquiries.
The 1823 Call Centre also receives complaints from the public on all government services. Staff monitor the follow-up to complaints to make sure that people are kept informed of how their complaint is being dealt with and that follow-up action is taken.
The 1823 Call Centre is open 24 hours a day throughout the year and is always at the public's service. Over the years it has become the public's main channel of enquiries and complaints about the Government. Most people are impressed by the convenience and practicality of the round-the-clock, one-stop service of the 1823 Call Centre. Those who make late-night calls to 1823 often remark, "So there is someone in Government to answer a call so late at night!" Their compliments on the friendly and knowledgeable Customer Service Officers include "good listeners" and "effective communicators".
Of the approximately three million incoming calls received last year, 86% were enquiries, 11% were complaints and the rest were suggestions. Among the enquiries received, the first-time resolution rate - a measure of whether the officer answering the call is able to assess and reply to the enquiry directly or has to seek further information and call back later - was as high as 97%.
Through the hard work and quality services of its staff, the 1823 Call Centre won a series of awards in 2009, including Best Public Service Application Grand Award and Best Public Service Application (Transformation) Gold Award in Hong Kong ICT Awards 2009, Hong Kong Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award, Departmental Service Enhancement Award (Small Department Category) (Merit) in Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme, and PCM Biz IT Excellence 2009 in IT Case Excellence. In addition, Assistant Customer Service Supervisor of 1823 Mr Wong Sau-ming, was honoured with The Ombudsman's Awards for Officers of Public Organisations (General Category), while Ms Pauline Watt, another Customer Service Manager of 1823, was presented with the Bronze Award of Contact Centre Service Individual Award in the Hong Kong Association of Customer Service Excellence Award 2009. The 1823 Call centre is gratified that its efforts in serving the public with quality customer service have been recognised by professional organisations in the industry.
In the face of the requests, suggestions and complaints raised by the public, the 1823 Call Centre will continue to learn from experience so that it can keep on improving its services and continue to provide the public with quality service. In 2010, the 1823 Call Centre will expand its service to cover the Lands Department. More business intelligence technology will be explored to provide better analyses and statistics to discover issues for better resources planning and deployment. The webpage of the 1823 Call Centre will be revamped to include, frequently asked questions so that people can obtain the required information on the web.
Ends/Sunday, January 24, 2010
Issued at HKT 11:00
NNNN