Triple Zero Contact Centre Part 1

Just recently I was lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at the Triple Zero contact centre and for a brief moment, get an insight into the amazing job the entire team at the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) do for the Victorian community.

For most people, hopefully, it’s a call they never need to make but in Victoria, every single person (on average) will call Triple Zero at least once in their life when they need emergency assistance and every day, over 7,000 calls arrive at the ESTA centres.

I’ve always been big on trying to change people’s perceptions of contact centre work away from the traditional telemarketing calls, and for me, there is no bigger illustration of that than a contact centre that literally plays a key role in life and death situations.

But when you remove the subject matter for a moment, at the core of providing an amazing service lies the fundamentals of contact centre operations:

• Be clear on what targets your key stakeholders expect from you.
• Ensure your people are well trained, supported and empowered to do their role.
• Use data to help you make informed business decisions.

 

Triple Zero Contact Centre Part 1 – Content

In Part 1 of my Podcast with Dr Amee Morgans, Executive Director Operations Support, we cover a range of topics from the complexity of running a contact centre that aims to answer ALL calls within 5 seconds with hundreds of staff across three centres, through to how they recruit, train and support staff in a high-pressure and at times, highly emotional environment.

We also cover some amazing insight into how they use data to forecast workloads and continually optimise their processes to improve the outcomes for the community.

ESTA was also kind enough to allow me to share a real call so make sure you listen until the end 🙂

• Overview of ESTA
• Data trends and forecasting (15-minute intervals with 4% accuracy!)
• What impacts call volumes (e.g. weather but there is also one big surprise)
• Challenges or resource management (e.g. police units, ambulances etc)
• Staffing challenges and how to handle call spikes
• Recruitment
• Induction Training
• A real live call

I was also lucky enough to interview a couple of real Tripe Zero Heroes who handle and manage the calls.

It was a fascinating insight into the role the ESTA staff do and how they manage both the calls and themselves in a high-pressure environment.

Listen to the podcast:

Just listen directly below using the player or via one of the many options like iTunes etc using the links below. Like to listen to Part 2? Click here.