South Ayrshire Council News

South Ayrshire Council has been shortlisted for a national award. This is in connection with the Council's use of call centre technology and has led to a place in the finals of the Good Communications Award 2010 Contact Centre Technology Award.

Earlier this year the Council opened the first phase of a new Customer Contact Centre, located within the John Pollock Centre in North Ayr, to provide a more efficient and modern service for callers who have enquiries about Council services.

David Anderson, Chief Executive of the Council said: "For our Customer Contact Centre to be shortlisted for a national award after such a short time in operation is outstanding. There is very strong competition for the Good Communications Award 2010 with local authorities and other public sector organisations such as health boards.

"We have invested over £500k in our new centre with skilled employees there using a Customer Relations Management system and state of the art telephony which will allow us to develop a joined up approach across the whole of the Council when handling callers enquiries.

"Now that we have established the call centre we are planning ways to expand it as part of our commitment to our Customer Services Strategy. This will enable us to further improve customer experiences by offering faster response times and making our complaints process more efficient.

"As part of our determination to establish South Ayrshire as the most dynamic, inclusive and sustainable community in Scotland we are committed to improving services across the Council."

The Good Communications Awards will be presented by Nicholas Owen of BBC News in the Emirates Stadium in London on Thursday 15 July 2010.