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News
Connecting
to CSIG made easier
By
Pte John Wellfare
ABOUT 55 more CSIG customer service centres will be opened throughout
Australia during the next year after a three-month trial of the
new system has deemed it a success.
The customer service centres, which can be approached for access
to all CSIG-related products and services, from on-base support
to travel and administration, have been introduced in conjunction
with a telephone and web-based service.
Louise Burgess, Change Manager for CSIG’s Customer Service Delivery
Improvement Project, said the service centre staff initially had
to overcome the hurdle of informing members of the services they
could offer.
“One of the key responses [from the trial] was that our customers
recognised that we had the three ways of accessing CSIG services,
but they didn’t know what those services were; they didn’t know
why they’d come to us,” she said.
“What we’re focusing on for the next part is getting that connection
with the customers.”
Ms Burgess said one of the key aims of the improvement project had
been to ensure a degree of continuity between all the service centres
and the three methods of accessing CSIG’s services.
“When you’re posted to Darwin and then get posted to Adelaide, you
want to know that you’ll get the same type of service,” she said.
“You’ll recognise the location of these customer service centres
because they have the same look and feel, and you’ll know what you
can get from them because it will be exactly the same as what you
could get in any of the Customer Service Centres. And if you want,
you could call 1800 DEFENCE and you’d get the same experience as
well.”
Employing the right staff has been an important part of the transition
to customer service centres, Ms Burgess said, with the project team
taking a different approach to the recruitment process.
“It’s a customer service-based job, so we’re not necessarily looking
for people who know CSIG’s products and services inside out – we’ve
got an awesome training program that we put these people through
and we’re comfortable that we can teach them the information – it’s
the service delivery skills, which are very intrinsic skills, that
we’re really making sure that we’re getting.
“We’ve been using assessment centres, which traditionally haven’t
been used for more junior-level staff – they’re typically for more
senior positions.
“It’s important that the same types of people deliver the services
that we offer. We can support [service centre staff] information-wise
through our systems and through our training, but if they’re not
the right people to start with then we’re never going to get what
we need and, more importantly, nor will our customers.”
A concern for the project team in developing the telephone service
had been ensuring members wouldn’t be bogged down in pre-recorded
menus and on-hold messages while negotiating the broad range of
services offered by CSIG.
“The more products and services you take on, you really need to
think about what the customers are expecting to get and ... that
the customer experience is a clean one and an easy one.”
National Operations Division change management and communications
officer Paula Sear, who supported the evaluation of the service
centre trial, said initial responses to the phone service had been
positive.
The three ways to access CSIG’s products and services are: at a
regional customer service centre; by phone on 1800 DEFENCE (1800
333 362); and online at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/csig/.
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