• Expanded Director Focus - We have established an operations-focused Deputy Director position whose attention is specifically on our frontline customer service function and promoted a highly experienced and respected team leader to fill the role - Tony Slagle.   
• Added More Staff – We hired four more team members to answer phones and respond to customer service requests. We now have 20 members on the team tasked with this challenging duty. We also filled one open spot on that team and two more on another team which processes all classes of license and education applications, bringing that area’s strength to 20 as well. This has reduced average waiting and processing times.  
• Added both Email and Voicemail “callback” Tools – In April we added an email box dedicated to “callback” requests, and followed in May with a separate phone number where a caller can leave a message and receive a “callback”.  Both tools are being well utilized by our license holders and have reduced customer frustrations.
• Adding a Call Routing Tool – since June 15^th, callers may select categories which route their call to the team member best able to aid them with issues regarding specific subject matters.  This tool has cut the average wait time in half and doubled the number of calls handled by staff. It also cuts the number of calls that need to be transferred. 
• Peak Business Hour Adjustments – Because the highest number of calls are received at midday and during the last week of the month, we have rescheduled staff to have more available during lunch time daily, and  beginning in July we will extend our schedule for an additional hour per day for the last 5 days of the month.  
• More Email Response Flexibility – To meet our two-day response commitments, new procedures will reassign more resources to emails when the volume reaches key levels.
• More Helpful Information Where You Need It – We expanded helpful suggestions on our hold messages and emails, directing you to important and time-saving information.
• Processing Dates – We published the dates of applications that our staff are currently working on, so it is clear when you should be expecting to hear from us. Staff working overtime even on some weekends and other changes in our internal processes have resulted in promising advances toward meeting our 7-10 business day commitments.
• Customer Service Training for All Staff – To improve our interactions with you, we retrained all of our staff in advanced customer service skills. We commit to provide ongoing training for our staff in order to provide you excellent customer service. 
• Customer Service Survey – We have added a new, brief customer service survey for you to provide feedback more easily. A link is included on standard emails from the agency.  I assure you our team will review your responses and take action when it is needed.

In the next three months the agency will be working to finalize more projects that will have a positive effect on our communications and customer service goals.  There is nothing more important to us at this time than to honor our commitment to the public and to our license holders to ensure our renewed focus on excellent customer service and improved quality.  I urge all of you to take time to fill out our new customer service survey, sign up for our newsletter, and if you need help please reach out to me directly. We will make sure you get what you need to get back to work quickly.    

Published July 2018