On January 2nd, 2019, West Michigan-based cooperative CUSO CU*Answers announced the extension of the Client Services support hours making it possible to contact a client service representative from as early as 7:30 AM ET until midnight. Prior to the shift change, the Client Services and Education team had a client service representative on call, but their new “around-the-clock” customer service model offers peace of mind to those that need quick assistance outside of the typical 9 to 5 service standard.
Kasey Hawkins, assistant manager of the Client Services and Education team, reported: “The best part of my job is being able to share those support hours with our partners. It shows them that we find availability important. We are staffed and ready to respond when they need us, even late into the night.”
Hawkins also noted a reduction in average incident response time. With lower call volumes in the evenings, staff have additional availability to research issues reported earlier in the day, getting responses to clients sooner.