This year marks 20 years of the customer service centre.
With over 135,000 residents, the Council is committed to ensuring that we continue to put the wellbeing of residents at the heart of everything that we do.
From supporting residents with council tax enquiries to handling complex queries or administering grants and benefits, the Customer Services team has grown in size over the years to 130 colleagues.
Taking pride in the jobs that they do while helping each of the Council’s services to realise their ambitions, the team are on the frontline every day, doing their part to build a better North Ayrshire for all.
Striving in every interaction to achieve and where possible, exceed our customer’s expectations, everyone working in the teams across Customer Services takes pride in their work and there’s a strong spirit of teamwork and inspiration when you meet the team in person – they truly are bringing our values of Focus. Passion. and Inspiration. to life.
Carol Adamson, call-monitor and advisor commented: “When I first started working for the Council back in1996 we didn’t have a customer services team.
“The phone would ring and the call would go straight through to the relevant service. So much has changed since then though…
“Who would’ve thought that the Contact Centre within Customer Services is now 20 years old!
“It really has gone past in a flash! I am super proud to be part of the team and I love coming to work every day as I have some amazing, experienced colleagues who are not only brilliant but care deeply about what they can do to make a difference for our residents.”
Colleague Kelsi Clarke shares: “I just joined the team as a Customer Service Advisor last year and I’m really enjoying being part of the team.“Everyone has been so welcoming and it’s really encouraging when you hear the words of encouragement of people who have worked here for over the last 20 years and seeing first hand that they still enjoy the work they are doing each day.
“We have a rare opportunity to interact with residents and colleagues from right across North Ayrshire, no two days are the same and that’s why I love my job.”
The Contact Centre was first established in 2003, was based at Bridgegate and initially began as a small team.
Fiona Walker, Head of Service (People & ICT) shares: “Only Waste and Council Tax calls were handled initially however through training and upskilling of knowledge, over time other services were added and the team now deal with a vast array of enquiries and specialist requests from across the Council.
“A popular misconception is that the Contact Centre is a switchboard but in fact the diverse team is made up of a network of highly skilled individuals, trained in multiple services delivering the best possible customer experience for our residents.
“For example, a resident may get in contact with us initially to ask about a waste uplift, but by the time the call has ended, we’ve helped them with a Council tax query, encouraged them to download a bin collection calendar and informed them about the nearest events happening locally that they might be interested in.
“In every interaction, we strive to really make an impact and ensure customers get what they need and more from their interaction with the Council.
“It was incredible seeing how much the team has achieved and just how far we have come.”
Senior Manager Elaine Nixon, Carol and the Contact Centre Team, organised a celebratory afternoon tea earlier this month to celebrate their landmark anniversary.
On the day Elaine said: “As we mark our 20 year anniversary with cake, laughter and so many fond memories, I would like to share a sincere and grateful thanks to the hard work of the entire Customer Services team.
“The last few years have been so challenging, and it was incredible to see how quickly the team managed to adapt to home working during the pandemic and rose to the challenge of supporting Scotland’s national Covid-19 community resilience efforts whilst ensuring all our residents continued to be supported.
“I would like to express my gratitude for everything you did during that time and for all of the brilliant memories over the last 20 years.”
Recently, the team have collaborated with colleagues from ICT and Transformation to review and re-launch the Council’s new Contact Us process.
You can read more in the Staff Talk article here.
This important digital workstream will now help to direct more customer’s online and directly to the support they require, allowing our Contact Centre Team to do what they do best, being on the other end of the phone for people who need support there and then.
Watch the Contact Us video to find out more about the new process.
On behalf of everyone, Staff Talk sends a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the Customer Services Team celebrating 20 years of the Contact Centre – here’s to another 20 more!
