Case Study:
Harris County Texas
Harris County Texas is the third-largest county in the nation both in terms of its size and population of more than 3.4 million people. 17,000 employees work at 140 different sites in Houston and surrounding areas to support all operations. These span the state court system, libraries, parks, utilities, auditor’s office, traffic, public health and environmental services—and much more.
Harris County Texas Contact Center Relies on AnswerPro to Provide Residents With Fast Answers to Their Question
The Challenge
Each day, more than 1,500 callers in the greater Houston area reach the Harris County contact center. Their questions are diverse, ranging from inquiries about a court date for a parking ticket to the location of a library. Oftentimes, the operators field calls of a more serious and urgent nature, such as during hurricane conditions and requests for case workers regarding mental health and child welfare cases.
The contact center employs a group of 12 operators and supervisors around the clock in shifts. Most representatives can speak both English and Spanish to address the needs of the caller population.
The contact center was running on a legacy application that could no longer be upgraded or effectively supported. “We needed to invest in a new system to support our callers going forward,” said John Meadows, Manager of Telecom Technologies for Harris County. “With the volume of calls we manage, having the right technology in place was crucial to our customer support goals.”
The Solution
The IT team did its homework alongside partner Altura Communication Solutions and learned about nearby organizations that had implemented mission-critical communications applications from Amcom Software. They also found Amcom on the Texas DIR, a selective list of approved vendors for governmental agencies.
“We selected AnswerPro™ from Amcom Software based not only on its functionality, but also on the strength of recommendations from fellow users,” Meadows said. “The installation went very well. Amcom took great care of us throughout the process. Even today when we have questions we rely on a consistent group of people who always help us out. They’re like friends now.”
All calls to the contact center go through the AnswerPro operator consoles. The operators are able to answer and transfer calls quickly, adhere to standard procedures, and improve each caller’s experience using this all-in-one solution. Meadows attributes much of the consistency of response to common questions to information templates that can be quickly accessed.
AnswerPro’s reporting capabilities are also important to track the date and time of certain calls, such as those involving mental health cases requiring a case worker in the middle of the night. “The court can subpoena records like this to follow the communications involved in a patient’s care. AnswerPro enables us to easily track and pull this information.”
The contact center also takes messages for departments that close their doors at 5 p.m. “The availability to provide answering services was something we didn’t have with our previous system. This has been a huge benefit and cost-saving measure for the county,” Meadows said.
As AnswerPro is a solution that is essential to the proper functioning of the contact center, Harris County has established a solid disaster recovery plan that means the consoles can be up and running quickly in a secure disaster recovery location.
The Results
“Our team fields a huge list of questions each day,” Meadows said. “The Amcom system really enables us to provide the best possible customer service. The operators love it. Everything runs more smoothly now, and we’re able to upgrade computers whenever necessary with a more modern technology backbone.”
Meadows is pleased with the system as well. “We don’t get funding very often for projects like this. Installing AnswerPro was one of the things we did get backing for, and it has proved to be a solid decision. The Amcom solution will adapt to rapidly changing technology and fits perfectly with our future strategies.”
