Contact: Russell Smith (512) 424-6966 |
August 1–7, 2011
State Benefits Clients Finding NEMO-Q System a Real Boon to Faster, Better Customer Service
Have you ever lamented all the scientific brainpower poured into underwhelming products such as the Roomba, cheese-stuffed pizza crust and “masculine scented” body washes?
If so, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) may restore your faith in science. In more than a dozen of their benefits eligibility offices (with many more to come) the agency is using ingenious, low-cost technology to make life better for clients. They’re slashing wait times, using their employees’ skills more efficiently and even helping people get what they need without having to go to an office.
A big part of this revolution is NEMO-Q, a Swedish-designed “queuing system” with a Disneyesque name and a strong record of increasing customer satisfaction. It’s previously been used with great success in by ticket agencies, motor vehicle licensing bureaus and other businesses and offices that need to manage long lines. Now, state government is getting in on the act.
HHSC’s Shaun Barker said her agency is running NEMO-Q at 15 Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth offices following a successful, grant-funded pilot program in Austin.
“It all grew out of a recommendation from the State Auditor’s Office to streamline customer flow at our eligibility offices,” Barker said. “There’s already been a noticeable difference for the clients. Office processes are more organized. People are being seen more quickly and are reporting less frustration and a more professional feel.”
In an agency survey, 93 percent of customers said NEMO-Q had made a positive difference in their office experience.
How does software — with the help of a few basic procedural changes — deliver these dramatic results? First, the system feeds off basic information that customers get as soon as they arrive. This means people no longer have to wait in line just to tell someone why they’re there. They’re also served in a logical order, by appropriate staff members, based on the complexity of their need and how long it should take to fulfill.
“You’re given a number right away, so you know where you are in the process,” Barker said. “And because we can tell who has the simplest requests, you know you won’t be waiting 45 minutes for something that could be dealt with very quickly. The process also feels fair because people know they aren’t waiting any longer than they have to.”
These same processes, of course, could be done by a group of employees with notepads and steel trap memories. But with the help of the NEMO-Q office employees are free to concentrate on helping customers. The system keeps track of the entire process and notifies customers when their turn arrives.
Data reports from NEMO-Q also give supervisors a useful tool for seeing how much work individual employees are doing in given periods of time, thus enabling them to spread workloads more equitably.
Another benefit from the data reports could be figuring out which customers don’t even need to come to the office to have their needs met. Those customers could be informed of options such as mailing in forms or submitting applications online, if they have Internet access.
These results have encouraged HHSC to move ahead with plans to install NEMO-Q in more than 50 offices — mostly larger ones that would benefit most from the system’s crowd-management wizardry. “In terms of customer flow processes, though, we suspect even smaller offices could benefit from what we’re learning,” Barker said.
Taken together, these benefits add up to a remarkable amount of value for the money. They deliver better service for clients, a sense of greater control for workers and useful new data for managers and executives.
Not to mention renewed faith for folks who’ve been questioning science’s sense of priorities.