'Regional Based' call routing plan gives callers the benefit of local advice

Our customer planned to improve the way calls to a central 0870 legal advice helpline were handled, and to ensure that callers were able to talk directly to their local office by calling one non-geographic number. In the case of Scotland, this was particularly important due to the differences in Scottish law. A facility to record calls was also part of the customer’s requirements

Class call plan solution

• 0870 number – the caller pays the national rate.
• A Regional Based Routing plan was set up to enable calls to be identified by their postcode/STD code and directed to the caller’s local office.
• To ensure complete ability to handle all calls, including ‘engaged’ office lines, calls can be ‘overflowed’ to other offices, ensuring all calls are answered.
• The legal nature of some calls may require conversations to be recorded for retrieval and future reference. These calls can be retrieved from a secure website, or emailed directly to the customer.
• Recorded calls can be archived for future reference.

The benefits

• Using an 0870 number, the caller pays the national rate and the customer receives a revenue from each call helping to fund the costs of the helpline
• The calls are handled on our network freeing up the customer’s resources
• Complete call handling flexibility
• The call record and archive facility helps resolve disputes when they arise
• Providing a local helpline service rather than using a large national call centre improved the caller’s experience and helped case continuity
• Low cost and easy to set up and control