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Study: Public-Sector Call Centers Perform Better

In comparison to private-sector call centers, researchers find that government call centers lead the way.

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Public-sector call centers scored higher than business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) call centers in two key quality-of-service areas, according to a study released last week by American Management Systems, in conjunction with the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality.

The study, launched in September of 2000 and completed in fall of 2001, tallied benchmark statistics for nearly 100 government call centers at the federal, state and local levels. In two very key metrics speaking directly to the quality of service provided, public-sector call centers scored very well.

Public-sector call centers operate on a par with their business-to-business counterparts in completing service for the customer on the first call -- "once and done" -- and beat business-to-consumer centers hands-down. Against measurements of caller satisfaction, the public sector scores are 10 percent higher than B2B and 30 percent higher than B2C.

"Our final results offered interesting and unexpected results," said Dr. Jon Anton, author of the survey and director of benchmark research at Purdue. "The survey shows that public-sector call centers often provide better customer satisfaction than private-sector centers."

"A common marketplace perception is that government contact centers are playing a game of catch-up with trendsetters in the private sector," said Jeff Ackerson, senior principal and Customer Relationship Management expert with AMS's Center for Advanced Technology, who worked with Purdue to evaluate the study results. "In fact, this survey has found that government call centers are already operating on mostly equal terms with private-sector counterparts, based on the most commonly applied performance metrics."

The study, the first comprehensive customer-service benchmarking report to focus specifically on government agencies, also found that differences from commercial centers often arise as the result of dissimilar purposes of the centers.

Government contact centers tended to be smaller in size than their commercial counterparts, reducing some possibilities to achieve economies of scale. Nevertheless, the study found that government call centers have cost profiles that are very comparable to those in the private sector.

The study also examined how government contact centers are using Internet channels, an arena in which comparative private-sector benchmark data was not readily available. The study found that public-sector call centers provide a significant level of effective multi-channel customer interaction to their customers.

AMS and Purdue developed the survey to give participating government agencies a way to benchmark their effectiveness in interacting with their constituencies against the performance of their peers in both the private and public sectors. Agencies will be able to use the results to assess their organization's current performance, capabilities, functions and infrastructure.

Purdue University and American Management Systems