Within the foreseeable future, chatbots and other technology will answer the most common and simple questions from residents and entrepreneurs. The more complex questions end up with specialists with a heart for customers. The KCC is therefore out of the game. That is predicted by Patrick Nelen, co-initiator of 'The Future Begins Now', which prepares public organizations for the future.

The customer contact center has had its day, Nelen states Government in Contact. Because employees of the customer contact center (KCC) need colleagues from the specialist departments to answer more complex questions. “Direct customer contact is not yet their priority, or they are shielded from it. But that's going to change. It is up to municipalities to provide the right, customer-oriented specialists and to invest in knowledge management and data analysis and supporting systems.”

Specialists work decentrally

The majority of telephone conversations with municipalities concern standard questions, which can largely be handled by chatbots. They do this well in about ninety percent of the cases, provided they are fed with the right information.
For non-standard questions, substantive experts are required. Because you cannot expect KCC employees to have specialist knowledge of all municipal products and services, the specialists are needed, says Nelen. He foresees that answering questions will be partially decentralized. In addition, employees of specialist departments will maintain customer contacts more than before.

KCC after 10 years

The KCC, introduced more than ten years ago under the name Answer©, as 'the gateway for virtually the entire government' and 'the organizational unit that takes on physical, telephone, paper and electronic contacts with citizens and possibly handles them immediately'.
Some municipalities responded to this, have become highly professionalized and digitized, but many municipalities are still leaving citizens and entrepreneurs out in the cold with questions.

 

 

Human Resources