The demand on government agencies is fast-paced, complex, and constantly evolving. It’s no surprise that citizens often face difficulties in connecting with agencies when looking for help, which can cause frustration, impede their ability to get the assistance they need, and ultimately they have a bad experience.
With this in mind, we established an innovative solution to this problem — the Automated Contact Center Solutions (ACCS) Special Item Number (SIN) on the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS-IT). This contract vehicle can help agencies streamline their communications, improve citizen satisfaction, and increase overall efficiency in the execution of their mission.
This blog post is part of a series where we’re discussing each of GSA’s key IT Services SINs on MAS. Each blog will discuss the benefits for agencies in using the solution, take a look at who is using it, and share an example of how an agency successfully used the SIN to achieve its mission.
There are a number of benefits to using the ACCS SIN; here are five of the most important:
- Enhanced citizen experience: ACCS provides a range of interactive voice response options that allow citizens to access information quickly and easily, without having to wait on hold or navigate complex menus. This significantly improves citizen satisfaction and reduces the number and workload of call center agents.
- Increased efficiency: ACCS automates routine tasks such as call routing, call recording, and call back, freeing up agents to focus on more complex inquiries and tasks. This can help agencies handle a higher volume of calls and reduce wait times for citizens.
- Improved analytics: ACCS provides detailed analytics that can help agencies to identify patterns, track performance, and optimize their call center operations. This data can also be used to identify areas where additional resources may be needed, such as staffing or training.
- Scalability: ACCS is designed to be scalable and flexible, allowing agencies to easily adjust their capacity based on demand. This can help agencies handle spikes in call volume without sacrificing service quality.
- Cost savings: By automating routine tasks and improving efficiency, ACCS can help agencies to reduce their operational costs and allocate resources more effectively.
Use Case: Quick deployment of additional support for hurricane response efforts with the help of small businesses
An agency had an urgent need for additional contact call center support out of their main office. They already had a contact call center with approximately 80 personnel in a 24/7 operation but wanted additional capability added in support of Hurricane Ida and other potential hurricanes that were predicted to hit the Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama coastlines in 2021.
Their contracting staff used the ACCS SIN to quickly add vendors that could support their existing customer service representatives with technologies such as artificial intelligence monitoring, chat-bot technology, web callback services, hosted email web forms, text-to-speech communications, and hosted FAQ services for citizens calling in for information about various hurricanes.
Their staff also utilized this same SIN to take advantage of small businesses offering various services under this SIN and identified both women-owned small businesses as well as service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses that were able to assist in some of the new capability development.
This resulted in the agency not only improving its contact center capabilities but also enabling them to take advantage of using small businesses to help succeed in its overall mission.
GSA’s ACCS SIN help you communicate
Agencies invested more than $385 million through the ACCS SIN last year — with the Department of Homeland Security leading the way. ACCS supports providing the public with ready access to government information and services and helping agencies ensure timely, consistent, and accurate responses to citizen inquiries. ACCS provides federal agencies with easy access to a broad range of contact center services that will make that vision a reality.
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