A brand new part of Schools Plus 2017 is the Customer Contact Centre (CCC). I thought that since it’s such a big part of the company it would be great to share a little more about it and what role it plays within Schools Plus.
In July 2017 the office in Bournemouth was opened and the process of building the Contact Centre began. Since then it has grown and become a core part of the company. The Contact Centre has become the hub of communication and has been brilliant for centralising enquiries, queries and bookings.
All of our Schools are looked after by a site team, team leads and overseeing is the venue manager. Previously all calls, emails and enquiries have been dealt with by the Venue Manager and on site team but since August 2017 the Schools Plus CCC has been in place things have changed quite a lot.
As we have over 80 schools it hasn’t been possible to do it all at once so the schools have been coming on board in weekly batches. Our current schedule has all the schools joining us by February 2018. As we take on new schools they will come straight on board with us with the help of the Venue Manager.
The transfer process is fairly straight forward but a detailed one; the Venue Manager hands on as much information about the site, customer and clients so that when we hit our live date there is nothing forgotten and any phone or email questions can be dealt with. Once schools transfer onto the Contact Centre it eases the ever-growing workload of the Venue Manager taking away some of the customer service aspect of the job. Main enquiries via phone and email now come directly to the CCC where most things can be dealt with internally. For one off events and very specific bookings the Venue Manager still has strong involvement as they have the knowledge of the Schools best.
Day to day the CCC is a busy place with many phone calls and emails. Dealing with on-going bookings, new bookings, enquiries, renewals and organising payments, no day is the same. You can read more about the role and what a typical day could look like from two of our Customer Contact Centre Operatives Odette and Sophie.
The Customer Contact Centre office is also home to Simon our Business Development Manager and myself, Alice, who is the voice behind our social media and marketing (most of the time.) Having us all working together on different aspects of the company works really well. It means there’s always someone to help out, offer advice and help with new ideas.
The growth of this part of the business has happened so quickly. I think with the development of Contact Centre it allows room for the expansion of the business to new levels which is super exciting to be part of.
Our Customer Contact Centre is open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. For any new bookings, enquiries and questions please get in touch via phone or email on 0345 222 2323 or enquiries@schoolsplus.co.uk