City of Barrie automates customer service operations and expands digital services

The City of Barrie, Ontario, is partnering with Verint to simplify, modernize, and automate its customer service operations for improved overall customer experience and employee satisfaction. Using Verint’s Engagement Management offerings for government and public sector, Barrie aims to expand access and support for its citizens across all channels, including the city’s customer portal and online forms and web chat.

Barrie is committed to providing excellence in municipal services for its citizens. A suburb of Toronto, the city has a population of nearly 150,000, outpacing the national growth rate in recent years. In the last 40 years, the area has grown by over 560% and has become a magnet for those looking for lower housing costs, year-round recreational activities, an excellent place to raise a family, and a nurturing environment to locate a business. With 1,265 employees, the City of Barrie is the fourth largest public sector employee in the area.

The city's leaders have developed a strategy to take its customer service practices to the next level—with an emphasis on self-service to speed interactions and make them more efficient for customers. In that quest, Barrie selected Verint after a comprehensive review of the top CRM solution providers.

The city will be deploying key Verint capabilities including Employee Desktop, Customer Portal, Case Management, Forms, Knowledge Management, Search, Chat, Integration Management, and Business Intelligence.

“While our city is growing, our citizens’ expectations are changing. They want to do more things digitally, and that includes interacting with city government via self-service across a range of online channels," said Rebecca James-Reid, executive director, Access Barrie, for the City of Barrie. "At the same time, when they have more complex questions or requests, they want to be able to engage with service agents who are knowledgeable, efficient, and deliver assistance quickly. Verint’s solutions can help us meet these expectations, creating operational and cost efficiencies while providing first-class service for our citizens across their channels of choice.”

The City of Barrie will use Verint’s digital engagement platform to provide streamlined, more modern services to citizens online, across a range of service areas—business license renewal, purchase of transit passes, payment of water bills and other key city services. City employees will also gain support in front-office and back-office functions to optimize processes on the phone, online and in person.

“Verint’s solutions take a ‘digital first’ approach, with automation for self-service and assisted-serve communication with the contact center,” says Verint’s David Moody, vice president and general manager, government and public sector. “The City of Barrie shares our vision, responding to its citizens’ preference to connect digitally with a commitment to elevate the customer experience. By providing its citizens with an innovative, modern portal, and its employees with an intuitive desktop solution, the city will reduce costs and improve its ability to engage with citizens across all channels.”

For more information, go to www.verint.com.