Services Australia’s operations room is a bunker of information on real-time customer interaction. Photo: Services Australia.
Services Australia gets its fair share of bad press – often for good reason.
It seems that there’s barely a week that goes by without some government audit, media report, or public complaint being aired, pointing out flaws in the system, communication breakdowns, or customer dissatisfaction.
Most recently, it was the release of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s investigation into the agency, finding it wasn’t doing enough to curtail the weaponisation of Child Support.
That was the latest in a long list of complaints directed towards Services Australia.
There are horror stories of lengthy waiting times on the phone, benefit payments going awry, unwelcome debt recovery and frustration at the service desk.
And of course, there is the agency’s role in the tragedy of the illegal Robodebt scheme under the former government.
It’s still grappling with the impacts of that scheme and the lessons learnt.
In a general sense (and excluding Robodebt), Services Australia is an easy target.
With its core business being frontline services and the handling of significant amounts of money for many Australians, the prospect of something going seriously wrong is ever-present.
Which is why, when things go well, the agency deserves a pat on the back.
As reported in Region, Services Australia held its mid-year report event at the Caroline Chisholm Centre in Tuggeranong on Friday (13 June).
It is only the second such event, instigated under the leadership of CEO David Hazlehurst.
A gathering of stakeholders from advisory bodies and the not-for-profit sector, as well as selected staff, came together to hear about the agency’s progress and the current state of its service delivery regime.
What they heard, both about the progress achieved and the agency’s future vision, was impressive.
The results of processing times and meeting targets are significantly better today than they were just a year ago.
It’s doubly impressive because the improvements have been achieved simultaneously with Services Australia staff managing a 550 per cent increase in emergency claims.
About 8000 staff helped deliver $285 million to Australians affected by natural disasters over the past 12 months.
Former Government Services Minister Bill Shorten made decent inroads into ensuring better service from Services Australia.
The agency was resourced with an extra 3000 staff to get on top of processing and call waiting times.
Katy Gallagher, having taken over the ministerial portfolio after Mr Shorten’s resignation, is just as determined to pursue a continued upward trajectory.
A justifiably pleased CEO was keen to use his mid-year report event to outline where the agency has improved and show off some important initiatives underway, such as providing more AUSLAN interpretive services, streamlining customer interactions and data collection, and inviting feedback and fresh ideas.
“With additional resourcing provided to us over the past 18 months, our people are processing claims faster, and customers are getting their benefits sooner, and people are waiting less long on the phone,” Mr Hazelhurst said.
“And even with staff diverted to help with emergencies in recent months, including the flood-affected areas of the north, we continue to provide a better service for everyone else than 12 months ago.
“While the results are welcome, and they give our staff confidence, we will always have the challenge of managing peak servicing periods like tax time and students starting at school or uni.
“And there’s more to do too, particularly in processing complex claims, like the Disability Support Pension and Age Pension.”
Services Australia’s Caroline Chisholm Centre is home to its operations room. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Inside the agency’s Tuggeranong centre is its operations room, which runs 24/7.
It is very much a ‘situation room’ with all the features of a high-security bunker.
Across numerous screens, specialist staff can see in real-time exactly how many people are engaging with Services Australia, how long they’re waiting on the phone, and how satisfied they are with the interactions.
The on-screen data is broken down into specific services, showing spikes and troughs in timelines and analysing peak time traffic.
It is able to quickly mobilise staff or prioritise services to where they’re needed most, so the agency can continue to deliver essential services.
The operations room also has the capability to mobilise additional support to assist other government agencies during peak disaster and/or crisis periods.
It has 30 dedicated staff members who all have an extensive understanding of service delivery, as well as specialist skills in operational response and data analysis.
It’s quite the setup and really leaves little excuse for when things go wrong.
However, things have been going relatively well at Services Australia over the past year, which is worth noting and applauding.
There are, however, still too many of those incidents that Senator Gallagher described at the event as “how could this happen?” moments.
“My view is that the customer should not end up in their local MP’s office going, ‘this is my story’,” she said, while encouraging Services Australia to keep improving.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
