A roadmap for the future
SERV, or Secure Electronic Registries Victoria, is an organization administering Victoria’s land registry under a State Government concession. If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, a land registry is essentially a database that records ownership and other important details about land and property within a particular jurisdiction. In Victoria, SERV operates under a State concession, which means it has been granted the authority to manage this registry on behalf of the government of Victoria.
At SERV, land registry customer communications primarily run out of the contact center, and the rest of the organization uses email and Microsoft Teams for chat, meetings, and external calls made from outside the contact center. SERV is based in Melbourne and has more than 150 full-time employees. Its contact center is divided into two teams. One team handles property registration, where real estate industry professionals inquire about land or property dealings in Victoria as part of their assessment process. The other team handles LANDATA, SERV’s online service providing access to information from the State's land registry and sells property certificates and Register Search Statements (RSS or copies of titles).
Jesper Hovrell, SERV's Head of Customer Experience & Operations, recognized the need for a new communications platform. “We were not just looking for a vendor, but for a partner that could be with us over the long term and grow with us. We wanted a vendor with the right roadmap in place that would enable growth and continual improvement,” says Jesper.
Searching for the perfect fit
Before 8x8, SERV’s legacy customer communications system was outdated, and prone to outages. In addition, it didn’t allow the organization to efficiently access critical data and insights. “We are committed to providing an excellent customer experience and always meeting our service levels,” says Jesper. “Getting visibility into our performance at any point in time was challenging, as was predicting appropriate staffing levels.” Plus, it was very difficult for team members to make small changes to the system, causing bottlenecks and frustration.
Jesper and his team reached out to contact center consultancy Creativ to gather requirements and conduct a request for proposal process with several vendors, including 8x8. “We are a relatively small organization and needed a vendor that was fit for purpose” he says. “In selecting a vendor, we assessed many with extensive features which were not relevant to our requirements. To deliver real value, we wanted to focus on the core things that really matter to us.
Success internally and externally
8x8 fit the requirements perfectly with a superior employee and customer experience, core features that made a difference to the business, and robust analytics and reporting. SERV moved its customer service teams to 8x8 Contact Center and administrative staff to 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, an integrated solution that enables external calls from within the Teams interface. Implementation was quick and seamless.
“We felt that our migration was very professionally handled. Clearly, the 8x8 and Creativ teams had a lot of experience,” says Jesper. “Also, we always felt that they kept us in the loop every step of the way, and we very much appreciated that.”
A bonus was that 8x8 has an office in Sydney, Australia, allowing Jesper and the team to make a quick call in local time rather than exchange emails with representatives overseas. When everything was in place, the company’s change management team used 8x8’s educational materials to ensure everyone was well trained on the new system. 8x8 even stepped in on launch day to set a celebratory tone with balloons and giveaways.
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