NC Taxpayer Assistance and Collection Center Executive Summary

Transcription

1 NC Taxpayer Assistance and Collection Center Executive Summary The NC Taxpayer Assistance and Collection Center (TACC) was implemented in October 2003 as a joint project between the NC Department of Revenue (DOR) and the NC Office of Information Technology Services (ITS). The NC General Assembly authorized DOR to establish and equip a central taxpayer telecommunications service center for collections and assistance in The purpose of this project was to implement a centralized taxpayer telecommunications service center that would serve as the main gateway for interaction between DOR and the citizens of North Carolina and was part of an overall Project Tax Collect initiative to increase the tax collection revenues for the State. After much review and analysis, DOR decided to utilize the enterprise call processing services proposed by ITS. The project included basic telephone service and voic for 305 Avaya 4620 IP phone stations in the two locations, call processing services to manage inbound and outbound calling, ACD/CTI, Agent Greeting, Predictive Dialing (for outbound collection campaign initiatives), Call Center Management Reporting, and a 96-port IVR. The TACC operations went live in October 2003 with approximately 60 Level 1 agents and 72 Level 2 and 3 agents. Prior to the implementation, the answer rate for incoming calls was, at best, 25% with extended wait times. Today, the answer rate is 98%+, except during peak filing periods. Many calls are handled by the IVR system without agent interaction, such as the Refund Inquiry line. The TACC also implemented a Predictive Dialer that allows for the automated outbound dialing of phone numbers for collection purposes without agent interaction until contact is made. This has greatly reduced the amount of time spent by collection agents in manually dialing numbers and making no contact. The TACC is a major component of the collection initiatives implemented by DOR over the past 4 years, which has resulted in nearly $1 Billion of new revenue for the State. In the first 9 months of operations (10/2003 6/2004), the TACC collected $24M, processing payment for taxpayers of nearly $6M, and answered 475,339 calls (Level 1). The TACC more than paid for itself during the first 9 months of operations, collecting $24M with expenses of less than $2M. Also, the funds used to implement the TACC and it s continuing operations are paid from receipts (fee) charged to taxpayers who fail to pay their tax obligation in a timely manner. No general tax revenue was used for the implementation of the project or its on-going operational costs. The technology utilized by ITS for this initiative laid the foundation for the implementation of an enterprise service that today is being offered to all state agencies. The service is now used by the Employment Security Commission, the ITS Customer Support Center, the Division of Public Health, the Wildlife Resources Commission with other agencies coming on board. The enterprise nature of the technology allows agencies to provide call processing functions to their organization that they normally would not be able to afford, with minimal startup costs and minimal on-going resource requirements, by leveraging the benefits of centralized call processing and still maintaining agency identity to the citizens.

2 NC Taxpayer Assistance and Collection Center Description of Project: The NC Taxpayer Assistance and Collection Center (TACC) was implemented in October 2003 as a joint project between the NC Department of Revenue (DOR) and the NC Office of Information Technology Services (ITS). The NC General Assembly authorized DOR to establish and equip a central taxpayer telecommunications service center for collections and assistance in The purpose of this project was to implement a centralized taxpayer telecommunications service center that would serve as the main gateway for interaction between DOR and the citizens of North Carolina and was part of an overall Project Tax Collect initiative to increase the tax collection revenues for the State. To pursue this effort, DOR investigated various alternatives, including purchasing the technology or entering into a joint venture with ITS. ITS proposed a leased services arrangement that would provide DOR with lower startup costs and less long-term overhead in support staff and equipment and contract management. After much review and analysis, DOR decided to utilize the ITS service as the implementation solution. The primary location of the TACC (Level 1 support) is in Rocky Mount, NC, approximately 60 miles from the capital of Raleigh, NC. This location was chosen for socio-economic reasons. Level 2 and 3 support are provided at the DOR headquarters building in Raleigh. Incoming calls terminate in Rocky Mount and can then be transferred to an agent in Raleigh, if necessary, utilizing VoIP connectivity. The project included basic telephone service and voic for 305 Avaya 4620 IP phone stations in the two locations, call processing services to manage inbound and outbound calling, ACD/CTI, Agent Greeting, Predictive Dialing (for outbound collection campaign initiatives), Call Center Management Reporting, and a 96-port IVR. The implementation provided DOR with an IVR system that could handle many of the incoming calls from taxpayers without agent involvement. These services provided on the IVR include Income Tax Refund Status information, Frequently Asked Questions, online payment of notices, online filing and payment of sales tax and withholding tax returns, basic instructions for filing, field office location information and the ability to direct taxpayers to tax-specific trained agents. The IVR gathers identification information that allows the system to automatically pop the taxpayer s pertinent information from the department s Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) to the call agent at the same time the phone call is transferred, using the CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) application. This allows the agent to assist the taxpayer immediately regarding the purpose of his/her call.

3 Significance to the Operations of Government Because this operation is a joint venture between DOT and ITS, there are two levels of change. The first is the change of operations within the Department of Revenue. The Call Processing and Call Center Management tools allow management to monitor the call volumes and call queues at all time and to adjust the number of agents answering calls in those queues to prevent extended wait times and/or idle resources. The reporting and statistics also allow management to analyze volumes and trending for staffing and productivity reporting purposes. The TACC operations went live in October 2003 with approximately 60 Level 1 agents in Rocky Mount and 72 Level 2 and 3 agents in Raleigh. Prior to the implementation, the answer rate for incoming calls was, at best, 25% with extended wait times. Today, the answer rate is 98%+, except during peak filing periods. Though wait times vary depending on the time of year and tax filing period, average wait time is 2-3 minutes and call durations are 4-6 minutes. Many calls are handled by the IVR system without agent interaction, such as the Refund Inquiry line. In February 2004, the TACC implemented a Predictive Dialer that allows for the automated outbound dialing of phone numbers for collection purposes without agent interaction until contact is made. This has greatly reduced the amount of time spent by collection agents in manually dialing numbers and making no contact. The telephone numbers are feed to the dialer by an automated process from the ITAS system. The second change is to the state s enterprise network services. The technology utilized by ITS for the DOR initiative laid the foundation for the implementation of an enterprise service that today is being offered to all state agencies. The service is now used by the Employment Security Commission, the ITS Customer Support Center, the Division of Public Health, the Wildlife Resources Commission, and the Department of Transportation, with other agencies coming on board. The enterprise nature of the IP telephony technology allows ITS to provide call processing functions to agencies that they normally would not be able to afford, with minimal startup costs and minimal on-going resource requirements, by leveraging the benefits of centralized call processing and still maintaining agency identity to the citizens. The IP telephony and network based contact center feature architecture that enables the availability of advanced contact center functionality to any government location statewide. This allows geographically distributed agency sites to function as one center with each agent possessing the same capabilities. As a result agencies have a variety of options to more fully utilize staff during peak periods and in instances where scarce skill sets are distributed between multiple sites. The architecture also offers options in the event of a disruption at one of the contact center sites. The TACC call center service is supported totally by ITS staff, as part of the service offering. DOR added only one resource to the technology staff to assist with internal support and coordination of application upgrades, network trouble-shooting and user assistance. DOR and ITS information technology staff work closely together to provide assistance to the TACC operations. ITS shares its technical and support staff among agencies so that DOR has access to

4 competent professionals without having to bear the full cost of the resources. The centralized approach also provides for 24x7 support coverage. ITS is in the planning and procurement stages of offering more centralized advanced functionality such as call recording and natural language speech recognition. An enterprise approach to these productivity-enhancing features provides agencies, such as DOR, with functionality that they could not afford as stand alone systems. Benefits The TACC is a major component of the collection initiatives implemented by DOR over the past 4 years, which has resulted in nearly $1 Billion of new revenue for the state. In the first 9 months of operations (10/2003 6/2004), the TACC collected $24M, processing payment for taxpayers of nearly $6M, and answered 475,339 calls (Level 1). For the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (July 2004 April 2005), the TACC has collected more than $38M. Another benefit realized by the citizen and the agency is that taxpayers reach the person that can help them much more quickly and with less difficulty. Prior to the implementation of the call center, the answer rate for incoming calls was, at best, 25% with extended wait times. Today, the answer rate is 98%+, except during peak filing periods. Also, the new system utilizes 800 numbers that are toll free for the taxpayer. Previously, the taxpayer had to pay the toll charges and, if receiving multiple busy signals, would call numerous published numbers within the agency in an attempt to reach someone that could help them. This often resulted in disrupting employees from their job functions who were not capable of assisting and further increasing the frustration of the taxpayer. The lack of taxpayer assistance arising from the inability of the taxpayer to contact the department results in late filings, overdue accounts, inaccurate returns which take employee time to correct and a general reduction in compliance, further increasing the cost of operations for DOR. Hence, the benefits provided by the TACC in direct and timely taxpayer assistance go beyond the actual dollars collected. The Level 1 employee is typically a lower level of employee that may have previously assisted taxpayers. Staffing has been shifted to increase the number of employees at the Level 1 and thereby maximizing the time and skill of the more highly trained tax professional in handling more complex issues for the taxpayer at Level 2 or 3. This results in a more efficient operation of the department, as well.

5 Return on Investment: DOR had no initial investment in the call center technology, other than the installation of PCs and network connectivity for the office. The service charges to ITS began after implementation in October at approximately $54,000 per month. The annual service agreement with ITS is for $647,904. The department paid $1.2M in other expenses, such as rent, furniture, travel, training, PCs, printers, etc., for the implementation of the facility. Clearly, the TACC more than paid for itself during the first 9 months of operations, collecting $24M with expenses of less than $2M. Also, the funds used to implement the TACC and the continuing operations are paid from receipts (fees) charged to taxpayers who fail to pay their tax obligation in a timely manner. No general tax revenue was used for the implementation of the project or its on-going operational costs. For the enterprise, using this approach to call center technology has allowed the state to provide higher levels of service at lower costs per department. The investment in call center technology continues today. ITS is in the planning and procurement stages of offering more centralized advanced functionality such as call recording and natural language speech recognition. An enterprise approach to these productivity-enhancing features provides agencies, such as DOR, with functionality that they could not afford as stand alone systems.