National census helpline 'receives 1 million calls'

Date: 24/08/2011

Plenty of non-geographic numbers may have been required at the national 2011 Census call centre in Manchester.

Outsource company bss has revealed nearly one million enquiries regarding the survey were received between March 4th and May 15th.

Almost 900 individuals were given special training from the firm and it established a facility dedicated to housing the helpline in the north-west city.

Furthermore, operators provided assistance to callers in nearly 60 different languages.

Chief executive at bss Peter Calderbank said: "We have an excellent track record over 35 years of delivering exceptional multi-channel public and customer contact services by well-trained call handlers backed up by the highest levels of security protocols."

The enterprise was part of a consortium that delivered operational solutions for the census and worked with Logica to receive ISO 270001 accreditation as a result.

In the opinion of Maintel, the most important thing for businesses to remember when establishing a call centre is that consumers will be looking to receive quick responses.