A driver's license represents freedom. Being able to go wherever you want, whenever you want. It's precisely because of this that there's a lot of tension surrounding obtaining and keeping that pink card. Something the people at the Customer and Communication Expertise Center (EKC) of the CBR (Central Office for Motor Vehicle Driver Testing) regularly experience. Part 24 in the series of unusual contact centers.

 

Text: Eveline Meijer

Most Dutch people know the CBR (Central Office for Motor Vehicle Driver Testing) for its driver's licenses. But the road safety organization has a broader scope than that. The organization administers (theory) exams for all vehicles, from mopeds and cars to trucks, and from inland waterways to tour boats. Private aviation exams must also be taken at the CBR.

“In addition, maintaining a driving licence is an important part of the CBR,” says Inge Rohde, manager of the ECD at the CBR (Central Office for Motor Vehicle Driver Testing). “We assess whether someone is fit to drive approximately 750.000 times a year. This is part of the driving test, but it also includes approximately 275.000 declarations of old age from people aged 75 and over. They must undergo a medical examination to determine whether they can still participate safely and responsibly in traffic.”

Finally, there are people whose driver's licenses have been (temporarily) confiscated. "We receive approximately 30.000 reports a year from the police that people have been pulled over for driving, drugs, or alcohol. They are then required to take mandatory driving courses."

In total, this results in approximately 600.000 phone calls, 36.000 emails via web forms, and 36.000 chats annually. These are handled by 160 customer service representatives for phone calls and 25 people for emails and chats.

Thinking from the customer's perspective

All these activities—from obtaining a driver's license to keeping it—are fraught with tension. Taking your driving test is exciting, but for a senior citizen, it's also exciting whether they'll even be allowed to drive. A driver's license means freedom. Having to surrender it restricts that freedom.

"That tension sometimes makes it difficult for people to absorb information," says Rohde. This means people are more likely to call. Is the information correct? What about the driving test? Did my health declaration arrive? These are questions they regularly encounter at the CBR. If everyone calls, it puts a heavy strain on the contact center.

That's why we formed the EKC two years ago. We deliberately brought together communications, marketing, customer service, improvement teams, and customer journey experts. This way, we're trying to improve our services and see ourselves more from our customers' perspectives.

This has paid off: more exams and health declarations were administered this year, but the number of contact moments remains the same. "The customer contact center has become more efficient, but the other divisions have also become better at informing our customers," concludes Erica Thissen, Customer Service Manager.

Finding Balance

One of the things explicitly taken into account is that there are still 2,5 million people with low literacy in the Netherlands. Furthermore, not everyone is digitally literate. "We have to tailor our services accordingly. That's why you'll still find phone numbers on the letters you receive from us," explains Rohde.

The CBR doesn't mind people calling. At the same time, millions of people can't call for every little question. "It also has to remain affordable. We're, as they say, fee-financed. Everything we do, including customer contact, is ultimately paid for by the person taking the test or having an assessment done." In other words: the more expensive the customer contact, the more expensive the driving test.

To prevent prices from rising too high, the EKC actively focuses on addressing simple questions. For example, by sending clear letters and providing extensive, and especially clear, information on the website. The phone remains available for people with limited reading or digital literacy. And when it comes to phone calls, quality is paramount. "Customers simply need to be helped. Preferably the first time," says Thissen.

Empathetic employees

Still, people sometimes call back. "They want to know if they understood you correctly. Or if we received their health declaration. It's simply a tense process. They want to be sure they've completed the process correctly." Emotions can run high among callers. This can be due to tension, or they might be angry, for example, if their driver's license is revoked.

EKC employees must therefore be empathetic and have a customer-focused approach. In addition, the standard training focuses on de-escalation. "How do you adapt to the customer? How do you manage their emotions? And how do you ensure someone ultimately receives further help? We have to defuse the tension in such a conversation," says Thissen.

The training is designed so that employees can independently handle questions about medical certificates within two months. After that, employees receive further training in other skills. "These are health certificates, notifications, and driving skills, so the theory and practical exams. We also work with 'regular' people, driving schools, and professional drivers. Within two years, you'll have mastered all the skills."

Answer three quarters yourself

When a question comes in at the EKC, one of the 160 telephone staff members answers it. "We first determine whether the person on the line actually says they are. Then we determine what the customer's question is. Did we understand each other correctly?" Thissen explains.

"We try to answer 75% of the calls we receive ourselves. For the other 25%, we need the back office, such as the medical or communications departments." Customer service representatives, for example, are often not allowed to view someone's medical records, meaning a query has to be forwarded. Addressing this beforehand with routing isn't possible. "Customers often don't know whether something is medically relevant. And we can answer some questions."

The CBR's IVR system is mainly used for basic routing: for example, is the question about the car driving test or a health declaration?

In addition, the CBR uses a system for logging and for customer contact tracing. The technology for this is provided by a unnamed supplier"But we manage it," says Thissen. "We have a functional management department that can support us daily. We have direct communication with them. And if we need to make any changes, we can always contact the supplier."

Measures against attrition

Finally, the EKC pays close attention to preventing employee turnover. "We don't just look at customer satisfaction. I'm also very happy when my team members are satisfied and enjoy coming to work," says Thissen. "I've looked at where the energy leaks are, how can we eliminate them, and what gives my colleagues a lot of job satisfaction?"

This resulted in shifting tasks. "The frontline staff only had the calls. They wanted variety and a bit more authority. So we started looking at where we could expand the mandate, so employees could make decisions faster, better, and more independently."

At the same time, second-line employees were burdened with a lot of administrative tasks, which led to their core task being lost. Some of the administrative responsibilities have been shifted to first-line employees. This gives them more variety in their work, allowing second-line employees to focus more on their core task.

Employees are also now more involved in measuring the quality of their conversations. "We've developed a new form to assess how employees conduct their conversations. But then again, what constitutes a good conversation? What is quality? We asked them ourselves. Now we can not only measure quality, but we also do so with a method that employees themselves have embraced, because we've given them co-ownership of it."

The approach has been effective, Rohde says proudly. "Since Thissen became manager, our turnover has dropped from 40% to 22 to 25%."

 

Still from CBR video 'the driving test' (YouTube)

Crisis through innovation – Nowadays, everything seems to be running smoothly at the CBR's ECG. In 80% of cases, the phone is answered within thirty seconds, says Thissen. Wait times on the phone are practically nonexistent.

However, this wasn't always the case. In 2019, the CBR was placed under increased supervision by then-Minister of Infrastructure, Van Nieuwenhuizen, due to problems with its "medical" customer service. Administrative processes, such as health declarations, and complaint handling were significantly delayed. And there were consistently long phone queues.

"That crisis was related to a system overhaul," says Rohde. "The elderly population is increasing, so we saw a huge increase in health declarations coming our way. The CBR (Central Office for Motor Vehicle Driver Testing) decided to implement a system overhaul that would automate many processes. But as with so many system implementations, it took longer and longer."

If something goes wrong during a maintenance campaign involving forms at the municipality and mailbags get lost, things go wrong. "Customer service exploded because people started calling en masse," Rohde recalls. At the same time, the RDW (Netherlands Vehicle Authority) switched to a digital system for sending letters about driver's license renewals. "As a result, we had professional drivers at the counter whose licenses had expired. They hadn't heard anything because they weren't receiving any letters."

This combination of circumstances caused significant problems, but they were resolved relatively quickly. “We scaled up customer service enormously in no time and set up two emergency locations.” in March 2019 Accessibility has improved significantly again. In April 2022, increased supervision was introduced to an end.

"We're proud of how we accomplished this," says Rohde. "And the system innovation ultimately delivered what it was supposed to. This has kept medical assessments affordable."

(Ziptone/Eveline Meijer)

Case, Customer Experience, Featured