Outbound Call Center Featured Article

New Call Center, Staff Enabling Arlington National Cemetery to Better Serve Public

Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) receives in the range of 5,000 calls a month – ranging from basic information to scheduling funerals. Last year, staff answered all of those calls, presenting a huge strain on the system. Teaming with the Army's IT Agency, the Consolidated Customer Support Center (CCSC) answers about 65 percent of those calls, providing the first level of support to the public.

“The goal we looked at was becoming an extension of Arlington National Cemetery, because any customer service center provides that face to the customer, so we are Arlington National Cemetery when the callers call,” said Deb Bouslog, CCSC director, in a release. 

Research by the Department of the Army Inspector General revealed that the call volume that ANC receives was a major issue. The system was somewhat antiquated. Callers would call into a center, if no one was able to take the phone call, it would roll over to voicemail. With staff already swamped, and particularly when there were a lot of burials and services taking place, listening to voicemails and responding to them could take days or weeks. In fact, there was no guarantee that each call would ever be answered.

Developing and implementing the call center support for ANC was somewhat of a departure for the CCSC because they are primarily an IT support call center, handling calls relating to such things as computer and printer malfunctions. If a call can’t be resolved, it is then elevated to the next level. 

ANC receives many calls that are related to basic questions about the cemetery, so the center followed the help desk concept, but instead, were dealing with people.

When the ITA (News - Alert) looked at the staffing needs, Bouslog said she knew that the people were going to be the most important part, so they looked for staff with the appropriate backgrounds. On the staff is a former 911 operator, a grief counselor, a former nurse and a psychologist.

After finding the right staff, the CCSC focused on developing the processes to provide customer service to callers. The team participated in training at ANC. They attended funeral ceremonies to gain a better understanding of the end result of the support they would provide. They met with the staff and learned the site terms when dealing with a cemetery that wouldn't normally be in someone's vocabulary.

The call center uses the cemetery's website to provide information, but also developed a knowledge base that agents can refer to when there are specific questions not covered by the website. The agents can also see the funeral schedule and provide times and locations. Each case is given an identification number, so it can be tracked and referenced for follow up.

The automated number system guides callers through a series of menus for basic information about the cemetery and about scheduling a funeral. Callers have the option to speak with an operator at any time during the call and the call distribution system records all of the information about the call: the time when it arrived, when it was answered, if the caller hung up before the call was answered and how long the caller was on the phone.

“The best thing about this position is the knowledge that at the end of the day you have helped someone, whether it be a grave location or directions for a family that may be coming in for a service and grieving that you have taken a little of the burden off of them,” said Cheryl Lynch, call center agent.

John Lahtinen is Community Development Editor for TMCnet. Previously, he served as Director of Publications at Yale Law School. He has 15 years of combined professional and educational experience involving newspapers, media, and communications, including editing, media relations, public relations, news writing, public speaking, layout/design, and marketing. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell