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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-13 Daily Xml
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Question Time

GOVERNMENT CONTACT CENTRE AWARDS

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Government Enterprises a question about the national Government Contact Centre Awards.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Call centres can often be one of the only sources of contact a person may have with an organisation. The key to success is getting that information provision and timely contact right. Can the minister inform the chamber of Service SA's recent success at a national award for contact centres?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:26): I thank the honourable member for her important question. The Customer Contact Management Association (CCMA) Australia and Asia-Pacific provides a forum where customer contact centre industry organisations and individual professionals across all sectors can interact, having a common goal of contact service excellence.

The CCMA holds an annual awards night to recognise those outstanding performers in the contact centre industry. On Tuesday 30 August, the winners and honorary mentions were announced at the Government Contact Centre Summit Excellence Awards in Sydney. The winners were selected on their achievements, looking at a wide range of judging criteria that are quite complex, in categories such as innovation, outsourcing and customer relationship management.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate one of our very own stars in this year's awards. Service SA took out the award for most innovative project. As Minister for Government Enterprises, I am very proud of this wonderful achievement. I may be biased, but to be recognised on the national stage is a real tribute to all of the dedicated staff involved in the One Workforce Project, including those working in the customer service centres right across the state.

Through the One Workforce Project, Service SA has developed a flexible contact centre system that can be physically located anywhere in the state while still being managed centrally. The technology allows monitoring and reporting on performance in real time, so we know exactly what is happening at the time, which enables Service SA to provide a more efficient and much higher quality service to customers. With real-time monitoring we can be far more responsive to service demands.

As I visit various places throughout South Australia, I often take the time to call into Service SA centres, and I have been able to see for myself just how flexible and valuable this service is. I also note how very busy these offices are. Tens of thousands of people come through these centres, and they process hundreds of thousands of transactions each year. Through the use of web-based technology, Service SA has been able to meet consumers' needs to provide some of the best customer service centres in the nation. This is achieved because they have a strong focus on providing an accurate and timely customer service, invest in people development and facilitate innovative training for staff.

The One Workforce Project cleverly addresses key drivers in delivering customer satisfaction and aligns their people, processes, systems and technology efficiently and effectively. This initiative has allowed Service SA to successfully expand services in regions and also remote locations. What makes this project extraordinary is the degree to which staff from all levels of the organisations have participated in the design and ongoing implementation of these initiatives. I cannot readily recall another government organisation courageous enough to engage staff in the codesign of their performance management system nor can I recall another organisation where the staff have become the leaders in the business improvement practices to such an extent.

In my capacity as Minister for Government Enterprises, I am never disappointed by the ingenious and very strong customer focus and approach at problem solving. As the state government's one-stop shop for government information, it is essential that their systems are accessible, user-friendly and consistent across South Australia.

Service SA is an excellent example of working smarter with less and, despite operating in an environment of tight fiscal restraint, customers and stakeholders are always at the very centre of their planning and implementation. The positive and productive impacts of Service SA's efforts are clearly evident in their outstanding and consistently high customer satisfaction ratings.

When I visit these centres, I like to go around and speak to staff when they are available and also I often just find myself sitting down in the customer service centre. I sit down in the seats where customers are waiting to be served and I chat with them and talk to them about their experience, talk to them about the sorts of improvements they might like to see. I do this reasonably regularly and I am always delighted at the direct feedback that I have received from the public when I move around those centres and engage with members of the public. Of course, I always enjoy meeting the staff firsthand as well.

I commend the hard work and the contributions of all the staff at Service SA from their chief executive right down. They have fabulous leadership at the top, their middle management is strong, right down to their front counter people across all the service centres—they are all to be congratulated because they have all contributed in one way or another in setting such a high benchmark for customer service.

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