The largest public housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the nation, Atlanta Housing (AH) has been at the forefront of providing affordable housing for many low-income families in the city of Atlanta, serving more than 50,000 people. AH offers several different housing assistance programs that are in high demand — applicants are placed on a waiting list for available openings. In order to determine their eligibility and status, prospective tenants must call AH. It may take several months for an applicant to receive the assistance for which they are applying.
The Challenge: Overwhelming Demand
Before engaging with DiRAD, AH received thousands of daily calls from applicants, tenants and landlords. This overwhelming call volume was extremely costly to AH and created a stressful work environment for AH staff. This situation also led to poor customer service, long wait times, and overall frustration with the program.
The Solution: Interactive Voice Response For 24/7 Automated Customer Service
To address the call volume and customer service issues, AH contracted with DiRAD Technologies to provide a next-generation Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) to provide 24×7 automated customer services. The solution not only handles routine inquiries, as applicants can lookup their own account information using their T-Codes, while landlords can take advantage of the system by using their V-Codes, both of which are unique account identifiers that are stored in the AH database. This provides the caller all the information they need to fulfill their inquiry — all without requiring a live agent.
The Results: Lower Costs And Free Staff To Work With Those That Need Live Customer Assistance
Implementation of the DiRAD IVR dramatically reduced staff costs almost immediately and allowed employees to turn their attention to matters that required live customer assistance. The solution also reduced overall calls to the agency, because tenants and landlords were getting the information they needed on the first call. Overall caller satisfaction improved, as did agency morale. A win-win!