1999 Anytime, Anything, Anywhere

Background Information

In order to promote the service quality of the government, Kaohsiung City Government has implemented an enterprise level of customer service into the government customer service system. In addition, we have constructed and actively promote a Call Center by integrating computer telephone system, building databases and training professional staff, in order to:

• Enhance the overall service quality of the city government and customer satisfaction.

• Implement the mayor’s idea of “taking care of the disabled”.
  

• Implement an enterprise level of customer service into the government customer service system to reduce the time and amount of phone calls.
  

• Set up the easy-to-remember 1999 speed-dial line 
  

• Provide our citizens 24-hour, 365-day, non-stop single-window service.
  

• Offer an outbound calling care service.
  

• Promote urban governance and enhance the people’s life quality effectively. (City should be ruled and taken care of by the public and private sector.)
  

Goals of the Initiative

To construct a friendly and unobstructed network city, Kaohsiung City Government initiates multiple creative service strategies all over the country. Our vision is to provide citizens a convenient, kind and effective service through the following initiatives:

• Set up a Call Center to provide instant consultative service. A Joint Service Center, RDEC established the Call Center in December, 2007 – five months after planning began. The Call Center test-ran from January to March, 2008, and finally began official operation on April 1, 2008.We also created a dispatching and reporting system to deal with citizens’ health and safety issues resolving any potential dangers with effective speed.

• The ethos, “No calling charge, better service”. Since 1999, a free call system was established. We estimated more people would care more about the Kaohsiung City Government, and we also recommend people to call in to tell us any thoughts on improving our environment and help us to see the small details that we don’t see. This will lead to a better environment and friendlier city, with both sectors relying on each other to care for  the city together.

• By using a phone and computer combining system, we were able to combine communication and connection into a single management center, service online system, and E-internet service website from each bureau. This created a master database that could be reached 24 hours a day without any issue, offering the professional and passionate service of Kaohsiung City Government.

• Through daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports, we would analyse trends found in citizens’ problems, offering these surveys and results to each bureau to help streamline and improve processes.

Parties and Partners to the Initiative and Resources Used for Implementation

• We outsourced the initial stages of development to ChungHwa Telecom, the biggest domestic phone company who helped us implement the enterprise level of customer service to serve the people. The hardware and people needed were both outsourced to a private company to set up and run the service.
  

• In order to provide a better service, each bureau sent out people to educate and train our 1999 staff enabling them to offer the best service possible for our citizens in Kaohsiung city.
  

• By combining the database and events of each bureau, we are able to provide accurate and first-hand information in regard to their questions.
  

• Regarding safety issues amongst other potential limitations, we combined 52 categories from the bureaus of Environment Protection, Public Works, Water Resources, Tourism and Transportation amongst others and connected Taiwater, Taipower, ChungHwa Telecom, and Hsin. Kao Gas Corporation Ltd to make the “Dispatching and Reporting System”, a central outgoing repairing and cleaning job duty system to strictly track down the process and time limit constraint of each action.
  

• To raise the effect of service, we transformed passive roles into active ones. We combined the Social Affairs Bureau and Department of Health to reach out with information on newborn caring. The purpose is to connect love with welfare and promote the 1999 people service phone line.
  

The resources used for implementing the initiative include:

• The budget was $6 million NTD in 2007, including the fees of classes and visiting institutions that have experience of establishing call centers.

• Since opening on April 1, 2008, the required fees during 2008-2010 were $47,449,000 NTD.

• We hired people with disabilities through the Labor Bureau Bo-Ai Vocational Training Center. We specially designed the working environment, providing special training and some special accessories such as hearing aids for each of them to answer each phone call in the safest and most convenient way to provide people firsthand help but also increase workplace diversity.

• Since the Kaohsiung county and city were combined on Dec 25, 2010, in order to service the new big Kaohsiung city, we increased our seats from 21 to 29, and increased the number of 1999 staff from 31 to 44. 11 members of staff were considered disabled, two of whom were, two visually disabled.)

• We promoted the popularity of the 1999 Call Center in local schools, MRT stations, bus-led information systems and some publication of local groups and societies.

• Providing multiple services with technology, such as the APP Company.
  

Innovation for the Initiative

• To set up a high quality service, our team studied the “311” service contents and operative information from New York, USA. Moreover, we conducted field trips to the institutions that had established call centers to learn through their experience, such as call centers in the Taipei City Government, Council of Labor Affairs and Bureau of National Health Insurance. Finally, according to the features of region and city, we drew up 1999 Call Center to complement citizens’ needs in the big Kaohsiung area.

• The government planned multiple creative services by estimating the local needs:
  

• We were the first to offer a free-of-charge call service through 1999, and recommended people to contact us with suggestions for improvement.
  

• We were the first to create the “Dispatch System” with 1999 as well as a carry out reporting system, offering people a unique and instant service. After the county and city combined, the categories of dispatching service increased from 30 to 52 making 1999 accessible to all. We’ve also built the strict processes of controlling and tracking. This creative strategy can promote government service effectively.

• We increased our employment of people with disabilities through creating job opportunities in line with the mayor’s idea of “taking care of the disabled”. 1999 Call Center would choose to prioritise hiring those with disabilities, catering work shifts around their needs. The percentage of those hired with disabilities in a department reached 29.6 percent, higher than the standard of Council of Labor Affairs, and setting a new standard for the public sector.

• Actively caring about our citizens, we decided to set up an emergency reporting system enabling the department to reach locations sooner.
  

• we also provide an active out-of-hours call caring system, reaching out to citizens to provide any help they may need providing them access to any necessary care and in good time.
  

• Reform Object - Finish connecting the new Kaohsiung area in two months. By the beginning of 2011, in order to achieve the Love Kaohsiung promise between city and county, the 1999 Call Center finished connecting both places in two months.