Call Center Issues and Solutions Log:

When Call Center agentsanswer the phone,sometimes the holdmusic continues to play:IVR is difficult to use forthe hearing impairedand non-Englishspeaking peopleCallers werecomplaining that afterbeing transferred todistrict offices they couldnot speak to a workerIt had been reported that on a few occasions, when callswere picked up from the queue by a call center agent, boththe agent and the caller could still hear the hold musicbeing played. It was difficult to talk with the client; manytimes agents had to hang up and call a client back.Concerns were raised by community partners that the IVRsystem and call center staff be able to address the needs ofpeople who may be hearing impaired or people who mayhave a difficult time communicating in English.If a client called into the call center and they were callingfrom a district that was not part of the pilot, the call centeragent would transfer the call to the appropriate districtoffice. The call center agent would then end the call fromtheir end and let the district office take the call. At times,the caller would be unsuccessful in being able to speak tosomeone or get a voice box and would have to leave amessage.The vendor looked at some of the call histories andlistened to some recordings to determine the problem.They made some changes to the system and there havenot been any reports of this problem since.We have made changes to the IVR where people whomay have difficulty navigating the system are simplyable to hold on the line and will be placed in a queuewhere an agent will attend to them. The call center staffhas been trained on how to use both TTY services forthe hearing impaired and our translation services fornon- English speaking people.Now when a call is transferred, the call center agentwill use a consult feature which allows the caller andthe agent to stay on the line together while the call isbeing transferred. If the caller is unable to be connectedto someone, the call center agent will get the callersinformation and pass that information directly to theworker via a CATN note.2

• Main menu reworked. Reordered the options and changed the verbiage to help calls better understand what isavailable.• Account creation/login section reworked. Callers have opportunities to:ooooEnter their user ID and pin;Create an account;Get help resetting their pin if they forgot it;Return to the main menu.• Creation of new queues:ooooooCommunity PartnerInterview UnitLong Term CareGeneralHold OptionThree Spare Queues for future use.• Redirection of callers into these queues through the IVR to better serve the clients and community partners.• Changed “on-hold” options:ooCallers informed of their estimated wait time.Callers offered opportunity to return to the IVR to get automated information.4