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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-29 Daily Xml
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SERVICE SA

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:15): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Government Enterprises a question regarding Service SA.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: Members will be aware that more and more families have both parents working full time during business hours. Therefore, people often have less time to access government services than they once did. Will the minister advise what the government is doing to create more accessible services?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:15): People across the state are getting improved service from the state government's front-line customer centre, Service SA, following the introduction of clever new 'virtual call-centre technology'. Service SA is about to provide a further boost to regional employment with the recruitment of additional staff for its regional customer service locations.

A division of the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure, Service SA is the single entry point to a wide range of government services through phone, face-to-face and online customer services. The virtual call centre technology is already showing reduced waiting times for people using its services. The technology enables call centre operators to work from any location across the state where there is telephone, computer and internet access.

Service SA staff respond to around 3,500 calls each day on registration and licensing inquiries and, since the introduction of virtual call centre technology, we have seen marked improvements, such as:

the average time taken for callers to progress through the queue has been reduced from more than five minutes (in early 2008) to less than two minutes;

2,000 more calls are being answered per week—14,000 calls, up from 12,000;

a greater capacity to handle more calls at any given time; and

a new automatic call-back facility enabling customers to receive a call back rather than waiting in the queue.

It is the first time this technology has been used within the South Australian government, and one of the first in the state, making Service SA a local leader in call centre innovation. The initiative also creates the potential for additional employment opportunities for regional communities where high-tech call centres are a rarity. Service SA is now recruiting additional staff through its regional customer service centre locations, which currently takes about 14 per cent of the total call volume.

Virtual call centre technology has been implemented in Service SA regional centres at Port Lincoln, Murray Bridge and Berri, and it is anticipated that additional virtual call centres will be rolled out in the Gawler, Whyalla and Naracoorte customer service centres in the future.

Service SA has recently implemented other significant improvements for customers to access government services and information. In February 2008, Service SA commenced rolling out an expansion initiative of the metropolitan customer service centre network. Nine centres that are currently badged as 'Registration and Licensing' are being transitioned and rebadged as Service SA customer service centres. So far, eight centres have been upgraded, with Tranmere being most recently launched on 20 October 2008. Once transitioned, the centres will provide the community with access to a range of informational and transactional services on behalf of state, local and federal government agencies, in addition to offering registration and licensing services.

Following completion of the metropolitan expansion, the Service SA Customer Service Network will comprise 20 centres: 10 in the metropolitan area and 10 in regional areas. A sophisticated queue management system (Q-Matic) has also been implemented in each metropolitan centre as part of the transition process.

Other service improvements within customer service centres include the implementation of customer reception officers to speak with customers upon their arrival. These officers 'triage' customers, identifying their needs which, in turn, has resulted in faster service delivery and greatly improved customer satisfaction.

From 1 February 2008 payment for registration renewals by credit card has become available at the 300 Australia Post outlets. Further, Service SA recently negotiated an additional nine photo-capture outlets across the Adelaide CBD for driver licence renewals. This brings the number of Australia Post outlets offering photo-capture facilities for driver licence renewals to 11 in the metropolitan area and 40 in regional South Australia, including Victor Harbor and Mount Barker.

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