Macfarlane Contact Centre Technology Helps Sefton Council Reach CallNorthWest Award Finals

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council has been named a finalist at the North West Call and Contact Centre Awards 2006 in the category 'Best Implementation of Technology'.

Sefton will compete against two other finalists - Bury Metropolitan Borough Council and Broker Assistance Ltd. - with the winner being announced at a Gala Dinner to be held in the magnificent Great Hall at Manchester's Town Hall on the 27th October 2006.

Sefton Council was created in 1974 and is one of 5 boroughs that make up the region of Merseyside. Sefton's achievement in reaching the final of this prestigious awards event is remarkable when one considers that Merseyside is one of the most deprived socio-economic regions in Europe and is the recipient of Governmental 'Objective One' funding.

The Sefton contact centre, based on Macfarlane CallPlus and Northgate Front Office CRM software, was set up in April 2004 to improve access to Council services and meet Government guidelines for the introduction of Electronic Government by 2005. The centre has since exceeded expectations in many areas. The percentage of customer calls to the Council answered within 20 seconds, for example, has risen from under 40% in April 2005 to nearly 70% today; while the percentage of customer calls abandoned has fallen from over 10% of calls to under 3% over the same period. The percentage of customers 'satisfied with the way their enquiry was handled' has risen remarkably from 37% in 2003/4 to over 87% today.

The event organiser, CallNorthWest, is an organisation set up in 2003 to support the call and contact centre sector in the North West of England.
The aim of the 'North West Call and Contact Centre Awards 2006' is to highlight and reward 'excellence' in North West call and contact centres with the Awards open to all centres that operate an in-bound or out-bound customer contact operation in the North West. There are 12 company and individual Award categories from Individual Categories such as Agent of the Year and Team Leader of the Year to Company Categories such as Team of the Year and Best Implementation of Technology (sponsored by O2).

"We were thrilled to hear the news that we had been shortlisted" said Sefton's Corporate Contact Centre Manager Samantha Musselle. "We're very proud of what we've achieved. The new Contact Centre has had a marked effect on the quality of service we've been able to deliver to citizens in the Borough and we've has some very positive feedback. Being able to pool our knowledge and skills into a dedicated Contact Centre team has certainly enabled us to handle queries quicker and more effectively".

"We're delighted for Sefton Council" said William Gray, Managing Director of Macfarlane Telesystems. "Their work is a great example of how by harnessing technology and people, and creating efficient business processes you can significantly improve customer experiences."