Gwangju’s ‘120’ Call Centre Passes 100,000 calls

- On site of old Gu-dong gymnasium, 715-seat public venue Opening ceremony Feb 22nd

Gwangju’s “City of Light Call Centre” service, which started in April last year, has now exceeded over a 100,000 calls.

According to Gwangju City, the “120 City of Light Call Centre” had received 100,589 calls as of February 10th, 2010, and established itself as a go-to place for information on local governmental affairs.

The number of cases handled on average each day has increased from 296 last April, to 688 this February, a rise of 132%, or 2.3 times.

The most frequently requested information was passport-related inquiries (18% of total cases), bus routes (11.5%), road works (9.2%), general civic administration (7%). Amongst the total cases, 67% (or 66,000 calls) were completed at the first point of contact, without the need to transfer to another department, thus sharply reducing the workload of local civil servants.

One guy called 150 times in the last 7 months to ask about festivals and things…. Between August last year and February this, one caller used the service 150 times, primarily to gain information and contact details regarding the many festivals which took place in Gwangju during that time.

In order to achieve a high user satisfaction rating, and ensure fast and accurate information, Gwangju City ensures its staff are briefed daily on the latest news and issue, and implemented a system where “120 Call Centre” users are asked about their call content and satisfaction.

Through these efforts, in a user-satisfaction survey, 97.5% of respondents in the years first half, and 95.0% in the second half of the year, said that they were satisfied with the service. As a result, the local government’s image has improved, and the system made it into the “2009 Gwangju Civic Administration Best 5” awards.

“In order to impress local residents further, Gwangju city aims to find and improve even the smallest problems, and offer better services for residents through continuous training to improve system operators’ skills and knowledge,” said a City Official.

In addition to this, in early this year, Gwangju City will construct a system where residents can send in their inquiries by cellphone text message. The City will also offer various kinds of services to residents, such as being able to checking water utility bills by cellphone, and continue to push and diversify promotion of this system so that more citizens use it.