Contact Centre, CRM, and AI & Automation.
Dear Dudley Council,
1. Contact Centre – target to organisations we know have a CC
a. Do you have a customer/ citizen facing contact centre? If not please skip these questions.
b. Do you employ and manage your own agents, or do you outsource to a third party? If you outsource who to?
c. How many contact centre agents do you have?
d. Do agents work from home? Or just your offices?
e. Please confirm the manufacturer of your contact centre system(s) that are currently in place?
f. When is your contract renewal date?
g. Who maintains your contact centre system(s)?
2. CRM
a. Do you use a CRM in the contact centre? What platform is used?
b. Do you use the same CRM for the rest of the organisation? What platform is used?
c. Do you use a knowledge base / knowledge management platform? What platform is used?
3. AI & Automation
a. Does your organisation have a customer or citizen facing chatbot? If so, who provides this chatbot technology?
b. Does your organisation utilise RPA technology? If so which RPA technology provider do you use?
Yours faithfully,
Philip Mansfield
Dear Philip Mansfield,
Information Access Request - Information Request DMBCIR:30708
Description : Contact Centre, CRM, and AI & Automation.
I acknowledge your request for information received on 2023-02-08
15:07:00.
Your request is being considered and you will receive the information
requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days (Freedom of
Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations) or 1 month
from receipt (Data Protection access requests).
For your information, the Acts and Regulations define a number of
exemptions which may prevent release of the information you have
requested. There will be an assessment and if any of the exemption
categories apply then the information may not be released. In some
circumstances the decision to release information, or not, will be based
on a public interest test. You will be advised of any considerations,
subsequent decisions and your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to
release the information to you. You will be informed if this is the case,
including your rights of appeal.
Unless otherwise requested the information may be provided in electronic
format, paper copy, normal font size. If you require alternative formats,
e.g. language, audio, large print, etc. then please let me know.
There may be a fee payable for this information. This will be considered
and you will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must
be paid before the information is processed and released. The time limit
for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.
If you have any queries or concerns then please contact the Information
Governance Officer at Dudley MBC, The Council House, Dudley, West
Midlands, DY1 1HF, telephone 0300 555 8283, e-mail
[Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council request email] .
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information/Environmental Information requests will be subject to
copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by Dudley
MBC. The copyright in other information may be owned by another person or
organisation, as indicated in the information itself. You are free to use
any information supplied for your own use, including for non-commercial
research purposes. The information may also be used for the purposes of
news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by
publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require
the permission of the copyright owner.
For information where the copyright is owned by the Council details of the
conditions on re-use can be found on our website at www.dudley.gov.uk.
For information where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their
permission.
Yours sincerely,
The Information Governance Team
Council House
Priory Road
Dudley
West Midlands
DY1 1HF
[Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council request email]
Corporate Information Governance Team
3/5 St James’s Road, Dudley West Midlands. DY1 1HP
Tel: (01384) 815607 Fax: (01384) 815660
Email:[Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council request email]
[1]www.dudley.gov.uk
Our ref: 30708 Direct Line: 01384 816546 Date: 08/03/2023
Dear Philip Mansfield,
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request 30708
I acknowledge your request for information received on 08/02/2023. Our
response is as follows.
Your Request and Our Response
Your request is provided below in black type and our response is detailed
in-line in blue type.
1. Contact Centre – target to organisations we know have a CC
a. Do you have a customer/ citizen facing contact centre? If not please
skip these questions.
Yes - Dudley Council Plus is the Council’s corporate contact centre. It
incorporates a call centre, walk in centre, e-contact and social media
processing, some other front line processing work and corporate receptions
coverage.
b. Do you employ and manage your own agents, or do you outsource to a
third party? If you outsource who to?
All managed and operated in house by employees of Dudley MBC.
c. How many contact centre agents do you have?
There are currently 79.34 FTE posts at Dudley Council Plus for Customer
Service Advisors and Senior Customer Service Advisors.
d. Do agents work from home? Or just your offices?
A hybrid of both.
e. Please confirm the manufacturer of your contact centre system(s) that
are currently in place?
Current Customer Records Management system is Microsoft Dynamics.
Current walk in centre queue system is Qmatic.
All other systems used are corporate systems. These include telephone
system (Cisco), email (MS Outlook) and multiple bespoke specialist systems
depending on the service the customer is asking for (such systems are not
owned/managed by the contact centre, only accessed for front line
contact).
f. When is your contract renewal date?
Microsoft Dynamics is under contract until 2025.
Qmatic is under contract until 2027.
g. Who maintains your contact centre system(s)?
We have support and maintenance contracts in place with the providers,
plus some first line support in house from our corporate ICT team.
2. CRM
a. Do you use a CRM in the contact centre? What platform is used?
Microsoft Dynamics.
b. Do you use the same CRM for the rest of the organisation? What platform
is used?
No.
c. Do you use a knowledge base / knowledge management platform? What
platform is used?
The contact centre have a knowledge base known internally as our A-Z
within the Microsoft Dynamics system.
3. AI & Automation
a. Does your organisation have a customer or citizen facing chatbot? If
so, who provides this chatbot technology?
Nothing for Dudley Council Plus.
b. Does your organisation utilise RPA technology? If so which RPA
technology provider do you use?
The contact centre does not use RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
technology.
If this does not answer your question, then you may submit a further
request; it would be helpful if you could refine your request so that we
can advise what may be provided under the Freedom of Information Act and
any cost implications.
If you do have difficulty in accessing the information please contact
Dudley Council Plus on 0300 555 2345 who will be able to assist you.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a comment or complaint, or request a review of
the decision, you should write to the Freedom of Information Officer at
Dudley MBC, The Council House, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 1HF, telephone
0300 555 2345, e-mail [2][Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council request email].
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by Dudley MBC.
The Information Commissioner may be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
[3]www.ico.org.uk
Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright protection. In
most cases the copyright will be owned by Dudley MBC. The copyright in
other information may be owned by another person or organisation, as
indicated in the information itself. You are free to use any information
supplied for your own use, including for non-commercial research
purposes. The information may also be used for the purposes of news
reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing
the information or issuing copies to the public will require the
permission of the copyright owner.
For information where the copyright is owned by the Council details of
the conditions on re-use can be found on our website at
[4]www.dudley.gov.uk.
For information where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their
permission.
Yours sincerely,
Steven Attwood
Information Governance Officer
Corporate Information Governance Team
The Council House
Priory Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 1HF
01384 81 6546
[5]www.dudley.gov.uk
This Email and any attachments contains confidential information and is
intended solely for the individual to whom it is addressed. If this Email
has been misdirected, please notify the author as soon as possible. If
this email has a protective marking of OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE, PROTECT or
RESTRICTED in its title or contents, the information within must be
subject to appropriate safeguards to protect against unauthorised or
unlawful processing and against accidental loss or destruction or damage.
OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE, PROTECT and RESTRICTED information should only be
further shared where there is a legitimate need. If you are not the
intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely
on any of the information contained, and all copies must be deleted
immediately. Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any
software viruses, any attachments to this e-mail may nevertheless contain
viruses which our anti- virus software has failed to identify. You should
therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
documents. The author will not accept any liability for damage caused by
computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied
with this e-mail.
Please consider the environment - do you need to print this e-mail?
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dudley.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council request email]
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
4. http://www.dudley.gov.uk/
5. http://www.dudley.gov.uk/
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now