AGILISYS SIGNS CONTRACT WITH CITIZENS ADVICE TO DELIVER NATIONAL CONSUMER HELPLINE

9 December 2011

Innovative partnership will provide expert advice to consumers how and when they need it from four contact centres across England and Wales

Agilisys, one of the UK’s most innovative IT and business services providers, today announced they have signed a contract with Citizens Advice for a multi-year strategic partnership to deliver consumer advice services on behalf of the national charity. Agilisys will provide phone and online support from four centres totalling 180 seats across England and Wales. The service will launch in April 2012, providing the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, in a contract worth almost £6m per year for three years.

One of the key benefits Agilisys brings is a high level of consistency with the new service, due to the company’s long history of providing customer services through multiple channels to citizens nationwide from dedicated contact centres across the UK. In addition, Citizens Advice will benefit from Agilisys’ significant experience in taking on new partnerships.

The new helpline will provide an efficient and effective customer experience, helping to solve 1.3m new consumer problems each year. Agilisys will also be responsible for delivering continuous improvements in operational efficiencies and service transformation through the use of innovative technology and process improvements, helping to drive savings over the life of the contract. For example, improvements will include use of Citizens Advice-developed online solutions to provide better information for advisors along with self-service (for citizens who prefer this channel), to increase the number of interactions resolved at first point of contact.

In addition, the multi-site solution not only provides robust business continuity, but also means advisors in each centre will have a high level of local knowledge, to deliver continued excellent service to customers.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said: "We're thrilled to be working with Agilisys on the new Citizens Advice consumer service. The team who'll work on the new consumer service bring a wealth of experience – for example they are currently handling more than half of all calls to Consumer Direct – and a real commitment to the Citizens Advice ethos and values. This is good news for CABs and good news for consumers."

Agilisys CEO Kay Andrews added: "We’re delighted to work in partnership with Citizens Advice, not only to deliver an excellent service to consumers, but to provide strategic input based on feedback and knowledge gained in this service delivery to help shape, inform and assist such a worthy organisation to continue to transform to meet the needs of the public. This builds on Agilisys’ strong heritage in providing customer services to citizens across the UK, as well as our investment in expanding customer services team and capabilities. We are firmly committed to supporting and upholding Citizens Advice values, ensuring people who need help can get the right advice at the right time. In addition we will take full account of the valuable feedback from service users, advisors, Trading Standards and the 382 England and Wales bureaux to evolve and grow in line with the values of the organisation."

ENDS