United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Seoul City's customer satisfaction services were centered on the provider-centered system, like the "Procrustean bed" in Greek mythology. Each department had its own listed phone number, which drew many complaints from Seoul residents about the difficulty of having the correct public access phone numbers and the inefficiency of the call service.

Among the various communication channels between the City government and its constituents, telephone service is perhaps the most convenient and easily accessible means for all. However, Seoul City's call service system was fraught with several problems.

Above all, it was too complicated for customers to choose the right numbers they needed among some 20 automated telephone service numbers, including 120 (general services), 121 (water services), and 128 (environment-related services), in addition to 731-6114 (Seoul City Hall) and 730-0101 (Ganghwamun Hotline).

Also, a survey conducted in March 2006 by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission showed that it took 67 minutes on average for Seoulites to get the information they wanted and to request services from the related administrative organizations.

Even if they succeeded in calling the right places, they found it inconvenient because of overly-long automated messages, the absence of the civil servants in charge and standardized information (a standardized counseling database), repeated call forwarding, and demands for explanation of service requests. Accordingly, Seoulites' satisfaction with Seoul City's call services was as low as 41.6 percent (LG CNS, Nov. '06).

Seoul City made various efforts to solve these problems by recruiting service agents and training them in phone etiquette, but they were far from satisfactory. In addition, Seoul City's service delivery was not efficient, as civil servants suffered stress caused by repeated phone calls with the same requests, which eventually led to their unfriendliness to customers.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
In his inauguration speech in July 2006, Seoul mayor Oh Se-Hoon promised "residents-centered administration" and "customer delighting administration" beyond the expectation of Seoulites by redesigning the administrative services from residents’/customers' perspectives. As part of its effort, Seoul City embarked on the "120 Dasan Call Center" project that drastically reformed Seoul City's call service system for its residents. The 120 Dasan Call Center was opened on Sept. 12, 2007, after an 8-month trial operation that began in Jan. 2007. As of Dec. 2008, a total of 176 service agents have provided civil services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Customers can reach service agents within 15 seconds by dialing 120 from a landline or wireless phone. The number of incoming calls increased more than ten times, from 1,180 a day on average in Jan. 2007, when the call center started operating on a trial basis, to 13,280 in Dec. 2008. Also, a total of over 4 million customers have called the center for service requests and information. In addition, the recognition of the customer satisfaction service number 120 drastically improved from 0.3 percent at the end of 2006 to 55.4 percent in Oct. 2008. Customer satisfaction with the center improved as well to 92 percent. Seoul City integrated the phone numbers of 17 public institutions and all ARS phone numbers, including 121, 128, 6114 into 120. Likewise, it covered the numbers of Seoul Agricultural and Marine Products Corporation, and Seoul Museum of Art. It also utilized the standard database of information and the expertise of the service agents to cut the average service delivery time to less than 3 minutes per call. The 120 Dasan Call Center provides information on all Seoul City government services and everyday life in Seoul, ranging from the public transportation system to water bills. According to a survey, requests related to city transportation, such as complaints on public transportation access, Lost and Found, information on bus routes and schedules, and access to major facilities by public transportation topped the list of most frequent questions, accounting for 33.4 percent. These were followed by questions on water, such as water bill payment before moving out, payment methods, bill transfer, and the like at 21.4 percent. Questions on city government affairs in general and cultural events were also included in the list of most frequently-asked questions. As stated above, the 120 Dasan Call Center has established itself as a happiness booster and a core service channel in Seoul, a huge city with a residential population of 10 million and a daytime population of 30 million a day, through continuous service expansion and quality improvement. The name “Dasan” was selected through the citizens’ participation. It commemorates the spirit of civic service, integrity, and creative local administrative innovation promoted by Dasan Yak-yong Jeong (Jun. 1762 – Feb. 1836), a philosopher from the Joseon period. Furthermore, it reflects the city’s determination to provide people with the highest-quality services.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The idea for the operation of a call center was initiated by a secretary for policy who wrestled with finding solutions to complaints by citizen customers through appropriate services. He then submitted a report on the plan for a one-stop call center to the mayor of Seoul in June 2006, which ultimately developed into the project for improving the happiness of Seoulites as a leading example of Seoul City's creative civil service. While designing and preparing for the 120 Dasan Call Center, Seoul City held three workshops with various related department staff, including the chief of the administrative bureau, information system planning officers, information and communication officers, and civil service research officers and experts in related areas, including city councilors, professors, and call center managers of public institutions. In June 2007, Seoul City launched the "Customer Satisfaction Promotion Team," consisting of some 86 civil servants in two categories. Seoul City was the first public institution to create the position of Chief Customer Officer (CCO) as the leader of the team with the missions of implementing the 120 Dasan Call Center project, drawing up plans for new customer services, identifying problems, and training frontline civil servants on customer satisfaction. In addition, Seoul City formed the "Call Center Operation Committee" in April 2007 with a group of 10 experts with knowledge and experience in call center operation, including CEOs of related companies, experts in councilor training, call center operation consulting experts, and researchers from the Seoul Development Institute and the National Information Society Agency, to gain advice on the operation of the call center and evaluation of its services.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
With "Seoul, a clean, attractive and global city" as its vision, Seoul City formulated the core strategies for the 120 Dasan Call Center in order to shape it into a "communication channel readily accessible by customers whenever and wherever and a friendly call center with citizens' comfort in mind." Under the service motto, "like a friend, like family, and like my own," all members of the "Customer Satisfaction Promotion Team" and counselors strive to make the 120 Dasan Call Center a direct line to the Seoul government that provides city services from customers' perspectives for customer delight beyond being a simple information provider with monotonous responses. The key performance index in the 120 Dasan Call Center shows that Seoul City targeted 95 percent in calls answered, which is higher than national standards or the 311 City Service in New York, and 80 percent in calls handled directly by call center agents without forwarding to related departments. The evaluation of service quality on a regular basis is indispensable for ensuring that the service agents understand Seoul City affairs accurately and provide appropriate services. For that purpose, Seoul City created the "Mystery Shopper" system consisting of some 500 volunteer workers, retired civil servants, and city service monitors to assess customer satisfaction and improve service quality by supervising and evaluating the call center system and counseling skills on a regular basis. The "Mystery Shopper" team contributed a great deal to the improvement of the service quality of the 120 Dasan Call Center by calling the center anonymously and assessing the agents' friendliness, expertise, and phone etiquette comprehensively so as to identify and correct problems and utilize outstanding examples for customer satisfaction training. As a result, the 120 Dasan Call Center was named Outstanding Call Center in the 2008 Korean Standard Service Quality Index by Korea Management Association Consultants. To measure customer satisfaction and improve it by providing better services, Seoul City also operates the "Happy Call" system that monitors service results and finds solutions to customers' complaints. Thanks to such efforts, calls answered within 15 seconds rose from 48 percent in Jan. 2007 to 80 percent in Dec. 2008, and calls handled directly by agents jumped from 45.6 percent in Jan. 2007 to 90 percent in Dec. 2008. In a survey of 12,800 Seoulites on their satisfaction with the 120 Dasan Call Center (Apr.~Nov. 2008), 9 out of 10 respondents said they were satisfied with the call center services in general, which is more than double compared to 41.6 percent in Nov. 2006 before the launch of the 120 Dasan Call Center. No matter how good a policy is, its effect is bound to be limited if citizen customers are not familiar with it. Accordingly, the 120 Dasan Call Center strived to increase public recognition of the center by 80 percent, its target percentage, by advertising it on public transportation, holding various events, including a writing contest and a video contest for the public on their experience with the 120 Dasan Call Center, and promotion in partnership with various districts in Seoul. As a result, public recognition of the 120 Dasan Call Center improved from 0.3 percent at the beginning of the trial operation of the center to 37 percent in Jan. 2008. As of Oct. 2008, the 120 Dasan Call Center boasted 55.4 percent in public recognition, which means that Seoul City succeeded in informing more than half of 10 million Seoulites about the 120 Dasan Call Center in a little over a year after its launch.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Seoul City started operating the 120 Dasan Call Center by integrating 6 ARS phone numbers on a trial basis, and set out to gradually integrate other numbers into one. Currently, the phone numbers of 17 public institutions are integrated into one number: 120. Sept. 19, 2006: Comprehensive plan for "high-quality civil service" formulated Nov. 6, 2006: 1st stage of the 120 Dasan Call Center project started (integration of ARS numbers and foundation of the call center) Nov. 22, 2006: 1st workshop for the 120 Dasan Call Center project held (deputy-mayor, city councilors, and experts in attendance) Dec. 20, 2006: 2nd workshop held (deputy-mayor, city councilors, and experts in attendance) Jan. 2, 2007: An ordinance enacted (basis for private sponsorship and operation committee established) Jan. 6, 2007: ARS numbers for 6 public institutions integrated into 120 (120, Seoul City, environment affairs, Gwanghwamun Hotline, City Museum of Art) Jan. 8, 2007: Operation of city call center started on a trial basis Jan. 28, 2007: ARS numbers for 5 public institutions integrated into 120 (Seoul Museum of History, Sports Facilities Management Center, Seoul Human Resource Development Center, Seoul Development Institute, and Seoul Agricultural and Marine Products Corporation) Feb. 8, 2007: 1st-stage Call Center Facility completed (35-seat call service room, a lounge, and an office in 246㎡ area) Feb. 28, 2007: 3rd workshop and presentation on the completion of 1st-stage call center held Mar. 28, 2007: Contest for call center name (Mar. 5~9) and the name "120 Dasan Call Center" selected. -660 citizens and 167 Seoul City civil servants participated. 120 Dasan Call Center facilities expanded (150-seat counseling room, 40-seat training room, 2 lounges) May 30, 2007: ARS number for the Office of Waterworks integrated into 120 and more service agents recruited June 28, 2007: ARS number for Seoul Agricultural and Marine Products Corporation (for price information) integrated into 120, and more service agents recruited July 10, 2007: Brand identity of 120 Dasan Call Center created -7 meetings held for review (with outside experts as advisors) Sept. 10, 2007: ARS numbers for 4 public institutions integrated into 120 (Grand Park, Children's Grand Park, Nanji Sewage Treatment Center, Memorial Zone) Sept. 12, 2007: 120 Dasan Call Center officially opened Jan. 28, 2008: 24-hour, 365-day service started Mar. 10, 2008: Assurance service for seniors started June 23, 2008: Video counseling service for the hearing and speaking impaired started Sept. 9, 2008: Location-based service started

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Since the decision to build a one-number call center in Sept. 2006, many civil servants, including city councilors and executives, expressed their concern about its efficacy, and showed negative reactions, doubting the capability of the service agents to familiarize themselves with all areas of city affairs well enough to answer questions satisfactorily. In an effort to prove the viability of the project, Seoul City analyzed all complaints and requests submitted to the city government online and by phone over the previous three years. The analysis showed that the questions about and requests for civil services concentrated most on specific areas, such as transportation, water, and housing, and some 70 percent of the requests were simple in nature. Seoul City was confident that the service agents would be able to handle up to 80 percent of calls if they were equipped with a detailed and accurate database of information built by each department of the city. Driven by its conviction, Seoul City launched the "Customer Satisfaction Promotion Team”. “The Customer Satisfaction Promotion Team” chose a civil servant in charge of the database in each department and held meetings and training sessions 22 times for the department chiefs and the civil servants to gain their cooperation and support in building a database of information. In addition, it also held a total of 35 weekly meetings to review the progress of the project and concentrate on preparing solutions to possible problems and sent letters to all department chiefs and section chiefs requesting their cooperation. Seoul mayor, Oh Se-Hoon expressed his strong support for the project at staff meetings. As a result, Seoul City was able to build a database of information, including some 29,000 questions and answers on all civil affairs in various categories, along with the names of the civil servants in charge and their phone numbers. It also systematized the database by revising and updating it whenever necessary for accuracy. An integrated database alone without service agents' full understanding of city affairs does not guarantee successful civil service delivery. Accordingly, the 120 Dasan Call Center is providing the service agents with an intensive customer satisfaction program that includes over 160 hours of training a year on phone etiquette, field training in each department, special training in "popular" departments that receive the most calls from customers, and on-site training in the service room. Moreover, the full-fledged service agents continue to receive intensive training on their core duties and the major policies of Seoul City for 144 hours a year to improve their service quality.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The creation and operation of the 120 Dasan Call Center cost 3.2 billion won (roughly USD 2.4 million), which is covered by taxes. The expenses include 2.7 billion won (roughly USD 2.02 million) for infrastructure and 500 million won (roughly USD 375,000) for operation. To be more precise, the former encompasses expenses for the construction of an integrated ARS system and various servers for it, network equipment for communication among systems, and information protection facilities for the prevention of hacking and data leakage and internal system failure. The latter encompasses monthly wages of 176 service agents (2 million won or roughly USD 1,500 per person), and other operating expenses. According to a study by Seoul Development Institute in 2007, the 120 Dasan Call Center generated an economic effect worth 12.7 billion won (roughly USD 9.51 million), including 17 billion won (roughly USD 12.7 million) for customers' access to the service and 1.1 billion won (roughly USD 824 million) for civil servants' responses to customers' calls. According to the study, the 120 Dasan Call Center is expected to bring an economic benefit worth 27.8 billion won (USD 20.8 million) annually, starting in 2008. The completion of all the necessary facilities for the call center did not guarantee successful service delivery, however. In order to prepare the service agents for prompt and accurate responses to calls from customers, Seoul City needed to develop a unique service program different from the program used by most call centers to answer predictable questions. Accordingly, the "Customer Satisfaction Promotion Team" carried out a development project for a service program for six months, from Mar. to Aug. 2007, by applying the methodological theory on the management of information projects it developed independently and the other methodological theory of development (WAY4U) developed by LG CNS. The service program of the 120 Dasan Call Center boasts a variety of unique features that allow the service agents to have easy access to information on the various complicated duties of the administrative organizations and provide answers promptly. Accordingly, many administrative institutions considering the creation of call centers are benchmarking the 120 Dasan Call Center project. As Seoul City developed the service program independently and holds the copyright to the program, it plans to distribute the program for free to any institution that wants to acquire it. Before the creation of the 120 Dasan Call Center, the 11 offices of waterworks in Seoul were responsible for all water and sewage-related inquires from city customers. With the launch of the call center, however, city residents can dial 120 to access water-related information, which substitutes 360 civil servants working in three offices of the waterworks and make them focus on other duties, enhancing the competence of the city government. Also, civil servants in other departments can focus on their missions more efficiently as they have been relieved from answering calls for service requests. According to a survey of 1,000 civil servants conducted in December on their satisfaction with the 120 Dasan Call Center, 93 percent of them answered positively, which revealed a sharp contrast to the negative and unenthusiastic responses at the beginning of the project. As of the end of Dec. 2008, 95 percent of incoming calls are answered and 90 percent of calls are handled by service agents without being forwarded to departments related to the services requested, which reaches or even exceeds the performance goal set out at the beginning. The average time for service delivery was cut from nearly 67 minutes to 3 minutes.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The 120 Dasan Call Center won 13 awards and certificates last year and enjoys favorable responses at home and abroad for its service quality and productivity. It received the call center service Korean Standard (KS) certificate from the Korean Standards Association for the first time in Korea and achieved the international standard for quality management (ISO 9001) and the international standard for IT service management (ISO 20000), establishing itself as a leading call center at home and abroad. In addition, it was the first local government body to be named the "Best Call Center" by the Korea Call Center Information Research Center in October. Thanks to its achievements, the 120 Dasan Call Centers are crowded with visitors. Some 350 institutions in Korea, including central administrative bodies, such as the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, and such local governments as Busan, Daegu, and Gwanju, visited the call center for benchmarking. Staff from Songpa-gu Office had an opportunity to experience first-hand what citizens want and how it can be solved by listening to them with service agents. Also, officials of 27 cities in 19 countries, including Moscow in Russia, Beijing in China, Madrid in Spain, and Bogota in Columbia visited the 120 Dasan Call Center. Mr. Low Hock Meng, managing director of the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board, visited the call center again with staff of other companies, saying that he was impressed by the service mindset for customer satisfaction during his first visit to the center. A group of high-ranking civil servants from Iraq also showed much interest in the call center system and requested cooperation in building a similar system in Iraq. High-ranking civil servants from Bangladesh and a team of civil servants led by a deputy mayor from Thailand also received training twice at the 120 Dasan Call Center. Inundated with benchmarking requests, the 120 Dasan Call Center is now running a weekly program that gives visitors a guided tour through the call center with a detailed introduction to its system, network, and service environment. The 120 Dasan Call Center was named the “Outstanding Civil Service of the Year” by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in Nov. 2008. It also gave a presentation to some 300 civil servants working in local governments. In addition, it serves as an exemplary model to the call centers of public institutions in Busan, Daejeon, Suwon, and Yongin.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Before the opening of the 120 Dasan Call Center, Seoul citizens had difficulty in accessing the right places for information and service requests. The 120 Dasan Call Center solves all those problems and provides friendly services to Seoulites. As the service agents answer the calls within 15 seconds and handle 90 percent of calls for information and service requests directly without forwarding them to other relevant departments, the 120 Dasan Call Center is said to provide customized services. The 120 Dasan Call Center strives to provide services that meet customers' needs by improving its service quality and developing new services, and aims to maintain its current favorable reputation at home and abroad. For instance, it opened an online homepage where customers can file complaints and installed the webcall system on the homepage for customers to leave their phone numbers for return calls. Since Mar. 2008, it has run a call reassurance service for 65-year-old or older senior citizens living alone to ensure their well-being. It also started providing sign language and text services for the hearing and speech impaired in Jun. 2008, making sure that they have equal access to the services and information available to others. As of Dec. 2008, 800 hearing impaired people a month on average are using the sign language and text services. The 120 Dasan Call Center launched an integrated location-based navigation service in Sept. 2008 to provide information on the location of various facilities, alleys, traffic jams, detour routes, estimated distances and how long it wil be take, which give it a positive reputation as a navigation system for Seoulites. To conclude, the 120 Dasan Call Center has expanded its presence as a core communication tool in Seoul, where over 10 million people live and 30 million people work and visit each day. Thanks to its effort to reach out to Seoul residents and solve their problems, the call center topped the list of the top 10 news items of the year selected by Seoulites in 2007 and won the "Brand of the Year" award given by the Korean Customers' Forum in Sept. 2008. Also, it has drawn praise from the media as it has appeared in daily newspapers 373 times and TV programs 45 times. Many Seoulites have sent letters to the call center or posted messages on the homepage, expressing their gratitude. The 120 Dasan Call Center is expected to establish itself firmly as Korea's Number One call service center by building an integrated city and district call center during the second half of 2009. With this integrated call center, Seoulites will be able to have access to services and information on their districts by pressing the number 120.


Institution Name:		Seoul Metropolitan Government
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Myung-hee Kwon
Title:		Public officer
Telephone/ Fax:		82 2 6361 3379
Institution's / Project's Website:		82 2 6360 4649
E-mail:		mhkwon@seoul.go.kr
Address:		Deoksugung-gil 15, Jung-gu
Postal Code:		100-110
City:		Seoul
State/Province:
Country:

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information