Auckland Council has appointed TelstraClear to head a project standardising and simplifying its customer call centres.

Engaging the telco firm as part of a wider programme of work to continue to unify its core systems and business processes, the Council says the move will save ratepayers $50.1 million over ten years.

Formed out of the amalgamation of eight different legacy councils and their business units, Auckland Council continues to work on combining eight different operating systems, including call centres.

"We're delighted that Auckland Council recognised that our in-cloud solution was the right one for the city and picked TelstraClear from the other competitive bids that it reviewed," says Andrew Crabb, TelstraClear's head of Business and Government.

"As well as being a leader in call centres, we can draw on our experience with providing innovative communications solutions and operating an extensive world-class network to ensure that Aucklanders get a Council call centre that helps them better work and play."

After inheriting a call centre service model designed to keep services stable through the transition period, each remain located in legacy council areas with the multiple system support both expensive and unsustainable.

Council says a single, comprehensive call centre system and supporting processes is now required.

“We will replace the many different call centre systems with one single system that’s cheaper to operate overall, more reliable, and one which provides a better service to Aucklanders,” says Nigel King, Auckland Council’s manager of customer services.

“The systems we inherited at the time of amalgamation no longer serve an organisation of Auckland Council’s size and we will replace it with a single cost-effective model that’ll serve our needs for years.”

Council estimates that investing in this call centre solution will have an overall benefit of $7.3 million as well as making its customer contact systems more efficient.