AEC calls on Centrelink for election call centre - News - Communications

To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

--------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
--------------------------------------------------------------

AEC calls on Centrelink for election call centre

By Simon Sharwood, ZDNet Australia
January 13, 2004
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/AEC-calls-on-Centrelink-for-election-call-centre/0,130061791,120282626,00.htm

The Australian Electoral Commission did not consider private sector call centre outsourcers suitable to operate the call centre for the coming federal election and has instead struck a deal with Centrelink which will use its spare call centre capacity to handle calls for the poll.

The decision to work with another government agency instead of the private sector was driven by the AEC's belief that no private sector operator could meet its requirements for rapid start-up of call centre services or match Centrelink's customer service levels.

"Planning for a federal election is difficult because we have no election date," says Roger Wills, assistant director of the Commission's Information Section. "We learn about the date at the same time as the rest of Australia".

Once the date is known the AEC has "...a requirement for a call centre operator to provide 75 percent of our operational capacity the 1st working day after an election is announced, then 100 percent capacity on the 2nd working day".

"We expect to receive over 500,000 calls over the course of a four to five week election campaign," Wills said. "The number of providers who can provide that sort of capacity is limited".

Centrelink, he says, has told the AEC that it has capacity to take on the job whenever the election is called.

"In our discussions it has been determined that they can meet our requirements and provide the required service levels within their current capabilities," Wills says.

The AEC also perceives that Centrelink has a customer service edge. "Centrelink is a major provider. They have the largest call centre network in Australia, the 4th largest IT platform in Australia and the customer service culture we want".

"Importantly for us they have also a number of small call centre sites," flexibility which allows the AEC to build specialist expertise on certain sites to deal with different types of inquiries. This training has already commenced, Wills said. "Working this way means we can start the training early and know that we will have those people for an election instead of waiting for an election date to be announced".