: Bill Saundercook City Councillor Ward 13 :

 
311 Now Live 10/02/2009
 

311 Customer Service - Overview    

311 is the largest, most exciting customer service improvement undertaken by the City of Toronto since amalgamation. 311 improves accessibility to non-emergency City services and information, and will increase the City’s effectiveness in responding to public inquiries.

One easy number provides residents and businesses with access to City services, programs and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A customer service representative will answer calls to 311 and resolve the majority of enquiries within that one call. Access to 311 customer service is provided in more than 180 languages via telephone interpretation service; TTY service for the hearing impaired is also provided. Callers from outside of the city can reach 311 by dialing 416-392-CITY (2489).

Toronto’s 311 program provides several different ways to access to non-emergency City services and programs and is part of a larger customer service transformation at the City of Toronto. Initially, residents can contact 311 by phone, e-mail or mail. In the coming months, the 311 service will expand on the web (toronto.ca/311) and allow residents to make many service requests and track the status of their requests online.

311 Toronto uses state-of-the-art technology to track requests for service. Where applicable, callers making a service request will be given a tracking number that they can use to track the progress of their request through to completion. The list of track-able services will continue to grow as the 311 operation expands.

Customer service staff who provided support to Transportation Services, Toronto Water and Solid Waste divisions, or who worked in Access Toronto, have moved into 311 Toronto as customer service representatives (CSRs). The full staff complement of 122 FTEs came from within existing City divisions and budgets. Seventeen days of intensive training was provided to all 311 CSRs. Training included everything from hard skills (use of the new technology and systems) to other skills related to customer service excellence and communication.

Toronto's 311 system is the largest in North America to launch with end-to-end service integration. What this means is that many of the City's different work order systems will effectively work together to bring improved service delivery to the residents and businesses in Toronto. Another key component of the 311 system is the City’s knowledge base. As of launch day, the knowledge base contains more than 15,000 answers to 13,800 questions.

The City will use the data from 311 calls and service requests to plan, forecast and budget for improved service delivery. 311 will provide up-to-date information about service quality to senior management and politicians, providing essential feedback in the service quality loop. We expect 311 to change the service culture across the City, driving improvements in service request fulfilment and customer satisfaction.

 
 


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