2023 Customer Awards: NSW Government - Department of Customer Service - Keep Calm and Carry On
Company: NSW Government - Department of Customer Service
Company background: The NSW Department of Customer Service (DCS) is committed to enhancing customer service and simplifying government interactions. DCS strives to ensure that the people of NSW receive exceptional customer service when engaging with the NSW Government.
The department encompasses over 30 agencies, entities, and business units, impacting millions of people daily. Customers can access services from the Department's various agencies through one of 20+ social media channels, such as Service NSW, Fair Trading, SafeWork, and the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
DCS's mission is to provide excellent customer service, digital leadership, and innovation in government services, as well as safe and secure markets. We aim to:
• Deliver a more consistent and efficient digital experience for the people of NSW • Use data and behavioural insights to enhance customer service
• Engage more effectively with the people of NSW
Contact: Erin Tierney
Title: Senior Social Media Advisor (Customer)
Related URLs: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceNSW
Kudos Category: Keep Calm and Carry On
1. How did your team shift your existing strategy by using Khoros technology to better engage customers during a crisis?
DCS has worked with Khoros in community management since 2020, helping improve our social media customer experience during crises such as COVID-19 (over 186,000 comments, posts, and messages, and over 47,000 personalized responses), subsequent lockdowns, and extreme flooding in the northern part of the state in 2022 (over 40,000 comments, posts, and messages, and over 9,000 personalized responses.
DCS responded quickly and proactively to the data breach, providing customers with clear and concise information about what had happened and what they could do to protect themselves. We also provided personalised support to customers affected by the breach, where they could ask questions and get help from our team.
The event caused a surge in enquiries across two weeks - over 6,000 messages, comments and posts were received by the channels, with 2,000 requiring personalised support.
2. What operational processes did you create or change to respond in a time of crisis? How were you able to be innovative using Khoros?
Khoros Care provided the team with a number of features that helped them to effectively manage the large number of enquiries, many of which were sensitive in nature. These features included:
- Triaging of posts: Khoros allowed the team to prioritize posts based on urgency, so that those who needed help the most were responded to first.
- SharePoint knowledge base integration: Khoros integrated with Service NSW’s SharePoint knowledge base, so that agents had access to the same information as the contact centre and physical locations. This ensured that agents were able to provide accurate and up-to-date information to customers.
- Sentiment tagging: Khoros allowed the team to tag posts with sentiment, so that they could track customer sentiment and identify any emerging trends.
- Real-time reporting: Khoros provided real-time reporting of incoming volume, responses, sentiment, and key themes. This allowed the team to quickly identify and respond to any issues.
- SLA tracking: Khoros tracked the team's SLAs on first response, ensuring that customers were responded to within 3 hours.
- Personalised care: Khoros allowed the team to provide personalised care to repeat customers. This ensured that customers felt like they were being heard and understood.
- Proactive messaging: Khoros allowed the team to send proactive messages to customers, providing them with information and updates.
- Welcome messaging: Khoros allowed the team to update their ‘welcome messaging’ to direct customers to critical information outside business hours.
Over the course of two weeks, the DCS Cluster customer care team proactively changed their messaging to better meet the needs of their customers. The team was able to report on how customers felt about the changes and identify any information gaps.
3. What success metrics did you use to determine if your shifts in strategy and process had the desired outcomes? What were those quantifiable outcomes? Please be as specific as possible.
Over the course of two weeks, the DCS Cluster customer care team proactively changed their messaging to better meet the needs of their customers. The team was able to report on how customers felt about the changes and identify any information gaps.
Despite the significant volume of enquiries and sensitive natures, the DCS Cluster social media team was able to uphold the high-level service that they have become known for while continuing BAU and keeping customers' data safe.
Special Thanks: Roberto Piagentini, Irene Vrcelj
Case Study Opt-In: No