Contactless Customer Service, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department

Overview:
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which serves nearly 700,000 people in the city of Detroit, upgraded its customer portal to enable city residents to conduct all water department business online.

Impact:
Expansion of online services enabled the department to permanently close three physical service centers that were initially shuttered in 2020 and permanently move all call center staff to remote work. Residents now complete 80% of their service requests online, and as a result, call center and back-office productivity at the department exceeds industry standards. In addition, more than 75% of customers who contact the department via phone resolve their issue with one call — that number was less than 50 percent before the upgrades. And remote work has reduced absenteeism for call center employees by 70%.

Advice:
The department offers these recommendations for other districts seeking to replicate its success: -- Collaborate with business leaders to map your organization’s current business processes. Get agreement and acceptance of those processes from business leaders. -- Discuss how to improve each process by using automation. -- Don't get stuck on perfection. Sometimes a good interim solution can help your organization make progress. Save perfection for the next iteration. -- Test your services. Recruit citizens who will give your innovations a fair review. -- Leverage social media to announce your innovations.