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DEL.ICIO.US‘Your call is important to us’ - really
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Listening to Joe Doyle talk about his job is about like listening to a bubbly schoolboy — exuberant, innocent and unpretentious, seemingly unaware of the public’s cynicism about his work.
And who can blame them — the public, that is?
For up to 56 minutes some of them have sat on hold, awaiting a response to a simple telephone call to state government. More than six out of 10, when forced to wait an eternity for an answer, hang up and walk away. Such is the fuel of public cynicism.
“In three years, I have become very bullish on them,” Doyle says of state employees. “They are just as good, just as competent as those who work for any bank or any other company. They want to do a good job.”
Doyle is director of the Governor’s Office of Customer Service, charged with making parts of it more efficient and more consumer friendly.
The eternity some callers have been parked on hold is an example of what people hate about government and, frankly, many large corporations. The state gets 50 million calls a year. Of those, 10 million general information calls are handled by 27 call centers, most staffed by state employees. One, handling park reservations, is out of state, in Maryland. None is out of the country.
A 2005 study revealed that of the 10 million calls answered, 930,000 were misrouted. At one center, callers were placed on hold for up to 56 minutes. Up to 62 percent of all calls answered were abandoned while on hold. Taxpayers, meanwhile, were paying $8.17 per call handled, well above the industry average of $6.37. A year ago in January, Gov. Sonny Perdue decided to do something about it, creating the Office of Customer Service, a first in the nation.
The quick news is the success. When Doyle took the job in January of 2006, the average time to answer a call was 4 minutes and 42 seconds, though 17.3 percent of incoming calls were not answered at all. By December, the average to answer was down to 1 minute, 39 seconds, with 11 percent unanswered.
The standard is to get calls answered within 37 seconds, with no more than 7.5 percent missed. Across the 27 call centers, time on hold has been reduced by 65 percent, from an average of 5 minutes to 2, saving callers 3 minutes per call. Some 600,000 calls previously abandoned while parked on hold are now handled.
The improvement has come with the same money and the same staff. By working with existing employees and managers, without asking them to perform any more tasks, Doyle has made significant headway, prompting him to rave about the quality of state employees. “The way to envision the call center project is that we are creating an enterprise approach to managing calls, as opposed to having 26 different approaches,” says Doyle. Standardizing the system will improve efficiency, lower costs and permit data collection that allow Georgians to know how well their government is performing.
Conservatives are often accused by their critics of hating government because they want to create it in a new image. Nobody could ever accuse Doyle of hating it. There is, in fact, a kind of sweet innocence in his enthusiasm, and in his faith that government can be made permanently better by, in this case, training people to do a smarter job, collecting data and making it transparent.
It’s worked before. Doyle, over 30 years in business, helped to turn a struggling formal wear rental company, Mitchell’s Formalwear, into a prosperous nationwide chain, After Hours Formal Wear, with more than 200 locations in 15 states in 2000. Doyle was 53 when he and his partners sold the chain to May Co., a big department store chain, in 2002.
He had the same general impressions of government that most callers-on-hold do. He had never met Sonny Perdue. “I spent 30 years building the business we had and I spent 4 days a week traveling, so I wasn’t connected to the Atlanta business community,” says Doyle. But he did know Tommy Hills, the state’s chief financial officer. Or at least they had met 30 years ago, when both were in the Jaycees.
He dropped him a note and volunteered to help. “I didn’t want to go to my grave just being a critic of government.” He’d take a job without concern for salary. “I would just be doing it for a love of Georgia and for the sense of accomplishment.”
His conversation is part business geek, part ’60s idealist.
“I don’t see this as a program that costs government money; it is using the same money to do a better job. It’s not building government,” he said. It’s making it better.
• Jim Wooten is the associate editorial page editor. His column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Permalink | Comments (53) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
Comments
By Dusty
February 24, 2007 03:06 PM | Link to this
Well, Jim (in absentia),
Always good to hear about people who love their state, take a job to improve it without thought to salary, and THEN make it better. Way to go, Joe Doyle.
By WootenDull
February 25, 2007 08:13 AM | Link to this
Front Page of the Urinal:
Iran: U.S. not ready to wage a new war
Leading the “news” in Atlanta with enemy propaganda.
I don’t believe Goebbels ever had it this easy.
Hey AJC, since we want to spread Iranian rhetoric, I guess because it sounds so much like that coming from the democrats, why don’t you tell your readership how Iranian clerics teach that Jews are apes and pigs that eat Muslim children?
Or maybe tell us about how they treat their women:
The stoning of women is one of the more savage, and revealing aspects of the mullahs’ rule in Iran. This vicious punishment of women is without precedent in Iran’s recent history. Since the inception of the mullahs’ rule, hundreds of women of various ages have been and continue to be stoned to death throughout Iran.
Don’t it figure that the libs would side up with Iran?
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Washington —- When Congress approved President Bush’s temporary tax cuts in 2001, political experts widely predicted they would be made permanent well before their scheduled expiration on Dec. 31, 2010. Instead, Congress now appears poised to chip away at this pillar of Bush’s legacy.-Urinal
Notice how it’s not your money the libs talk about; it’s the pillars of Bush’s legacy.
They can’t tell the truth about anything, can they?
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
By Mid-South Philosopher
February 25, 2007 08:13 AM | Link to this
Good morning to everyone,
I am jealous of Jim. I hope he gets sunburned!
As to the topic:
Likely, I am the most pro-anarchist contributor on this blog. Further, I have never met a bureaucracy (governmental or corporatist) that I didn’t like…to harass. That being said, I confess that there are many individuals within the cesspool of government who would like to be effective and efficient. Alas, they are lost within the purgatory of regulatory and process administration from which there is no exit and no hope of real reform.
By RealConservative
February 25, 2007 08:30 AM | Link to this
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn.
Skip to next paragraph Blog The Caucus Kate Phillips and The Times’s politics staff report on the latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.
More Politics News The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign.
But in a stark shift from the group’s influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins.
The future looks rather bleak for the American Taliban.
By WootenDull
February 25, 2007 08:30 AM | Link to this
By DAN CHAPMAN, WANKER- Urinal, Plains — As president, Jimmy Carter installed solar panels atop the White House. He championed coal and nuclear power. He taxed oil company profits. He created the U.S. Department of Energy. He introduced America to ethanol. Oil imports plummeted during the Carter administration. Renewable energy research skyrocketed. Cars got more miles per gallon of gas. Thermostats were lowered to 55 degrees at night. On Feb. 2, 1977, Carter donned a wool cardigan and asked a national TV audience to conserve energy. Two months later, he likened America’s struggle to reduce Middle Eastern oil imports to the “moral equivalent of war.”
Was it all for naught?
I’m sorry, I got tired of highlighting the Bullsh-it in this article.
He taxed oil company profits.- And oil companies in turn raised their prices so that YOU paid for it.
He created the U.S. Department of Energy.- Which does what? Burns tax dollars, requires a huge building that wastes energy and increases the budget deficit. This is “success” to a lib?
He introduced America to ethanol.- It takes 1.7 gallons of gasoline to make 1 gallon of ethanol. Must I explain this to you? Why are liberals heralding this as a breakthrough? Are they really that F up?
Oil imports plummeted during the Carter administration. Yeah, and gas lines stretched around the block. People all over the world laughed at America and took our embassy workers hostage. Prices also “skyrocketed.”
Cars got more miles per gallon of gas. Yes and more people died horrific fiery deaths inside of the little tiny rice burners.
Thermostats were lowered to 55 degrees at night. Hahahahahaha, yeah, maybe YOUR thermostat.
Two months later, he likened America’s struggle to reduce Middle Eastern oil imports to the “moral equivalent of war. And while he was making an a-ss of himself in front of the whole world, the real war was being started in Iran and we fight it even to this day.
It says it all about liberalism, about the Atlanta Urinal, about Dan Chapman that they could see any success from the Carter administration nevertheless a whole freaking list of “success^^.
Are you people really that stupid?
By Writer's block
February 25, 2007 09:09 AM | Link to this
How long does a call to the Iraqi Parliament get put on hold?
By Markus
February 25, 2007 11:35 AM | Link to this
Yes WD, liberal demoncats really are that stupid. It’s all about emotions, not reality and facts with those sick twisted people. Hat tip to you.
By RW-(the original)
February 25, 2007 01:15 PM | Link to this
Maybe when Joe Doyle finishes straightening out the State’s call centers he can work on the AJC’s web servers. For a so called big time news outlet your web site has all the quality one would expect from a dollar store.
Although in fairness it matches the quality of your news.
By BD's Neglected family
February 25, 2007 01:23 PM | Link to this
Yes Rw’s addiction to these blogs is very important. Please do let him go cold turkey again. We’d hate for him to actually get a life. Got crack?
By Magistrate
February 25, 2007 02:41 PM | Link to this
I believe the true question is: Is LD really that stupid?
Try as I may, I simply can’t get behind a person whose only quest in life is to hack into blogs.
I mean, where is the sanity in that?
Markus: you ever consider taking an anger management class?
By Markus
February 25, 2007 03:18 PM | Link to this
Resident liberal ID freak:
You are one sick twisted individual. You b!tch about people being here supposedly all the time whereas you live this blog 7x24. You pathetic liberal disgusting hypocrite. DO as YOU say, NOT as YOU do. Sick liberal.
Oh yeah, and I’m not angry. I’m just passionate. Just like your jackass hero Howard Scream Deam said. It’s nothing personal… it’s just politics. RAT.
By WootenDull
February 25, 2007 03:39 PM | Link to this
Perhaps Magistrate would like to share with all of us why he thinks that LD is “stupid?”
Or is it asking too much of him to string together a few coherent thoughts, I know that would require him to think and reason but maybe he could try?
As it stands now, the only reason we have to believe what the punka-ss has to tell us is because he says so.
Which is right where all these liberals are at, nothing but a bunch of windbags.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
By WootenDull
February 25, 2007 03:51 PM | Link to this
The pinkos at the Atlanta Urinal weren’t lying when they said they were going to focus all their resources on their website.
They made it a piece of crap like the paper is.
Nice job.
Now go ahead and tell us how to run the world.
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By Buy Danish
February 25, 2007 03:55 PM | Link to this
WootenDull,
In all fairness to Iran (/sarc) stoning is historically part of the Mullah’s way of doing things, which presumably is why it is known as a religion of peace.
I guess the women find their peace after they have been stoned to death.
James Mitchener describes a gruesome scene in Caravans which was published in 1963 and takes place right after the end of WWII. Lotsa burkas in that book too.
P.S. Loved your thermostat comment.
By @@
February 25, 2007 03:58 PM | Link to this
Jim, this is a great story. Thanks for letting us know about Joe Doyle. Should I e-mail or call him? He deserves some “attaboys”.
Streamline and simplify. It never fails. Drive it like a business, not like a gravy train.
Work ethic? I can tell you about a military brat such as myself. My Dad raised his kids like a drill sargeant raises his recruits. With firm discipline and an abundance of pride.
My brother, much older than me, went to work much sooner than I did. I loved my brother and admired his work ethic. My brother loved my Dad and admired his work ethic.
At 16 I asked my Dad if I could take a part-time job with our county Commissioners through a vocational program at school. “A GI employee?” he said.
“Yessir” I replied.
“Here’s the rules” he said. “If your little 100 pounds produces 110%, you’ll be worth your weight in gold to your commander.”
“If you’re 200 pounds of deadweight, you’re likely “sitting” on my hard-earned tax dollars, and my payback will be trimmed from your overweight backside little missy.”
“Yessir” I said.
I worked my backside off so he wouldn’t have to.
By Buy Danish
February 25, 2007 03:58 PM | Link to this
RW,
After the AJC fixes their servers, maybe they’ll fire the survey monkey.
She can always get hired by the Obama campaign to field complaints from the Clintons.
By Buy Danish
February 25, 2007 04:03 PM | Link to this
While we’re on the topic of great public servants, Rudy Guiliani is someone who really knows how to get things done.
By getalife
February 25, 2007 04:10 PM | Link to this
Told ya
By getalife
February 25, 2007 04:14 PM | Link to this
w is ignoring the enemy again
Geez, useful idiots indeed.
By getalife
February 25, 2007 04:25 PM | Link to this
The disaster continues
By RW-(the original)
February 25, 2007 04:34 PM | Link to this
getalife,
You’re just now figuring out the New York Times is a disaster?
By @@
February 25, 2007 04:41 PM | Link to this
Getalife:
What’s the point of having a coalition of “the willing” if you don’t use them more effectively?
LONDON: The plan for a phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq has caused much hand wringing and questioning whether it is a sensible idea. The answer is that it is, because the Iraqis need to take responsibility for their own security when they are ready for it, and in the Basra area they probably are. There will be a gradual shift in British tactics from close engagement in patrolling to being a reserve and that seems sound now.
A second aspect is whether this withdrawal is disruptive to US strategy in the Baghdad area. While it may not be entirely welcome to our allies, there have been plenty of opportunities for consultation. The surge in US forces and the draw-down of British forces may not, despite appearances, be all that far apart. The US needs to draw-down, too, but they do not yet have security levels in Baghdad that will allow them to do so. In making any kind of comparison between Basra and Baghdad, we must, however, always and rigorously keep in mind the immense differences between the environments in and around the two cities.
Venture out of Vegas sometime; out of your left-wing sites, and put your money on “Red”.
It’s too dark in those casinos, and you can’t see for all the smoke.
By WootenDull
February 25, 2007 04:46 PM | Link to this
Hey, gitmolife:
I thought you loony libs had irrefutable evidence that Bush planned and carried out 9/11, I think you said he was even flying one of the planes, but now you’re saying he only knew about it before it happened?
WTF?
You’re actually gonna let him off the hook for something?
Go figure.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
By RW-(the original)
February 25, 2007 04:50 PM | Link to this
Mothra goes down in flames in his latest attempt to screw over the troops
But a botched launch by the plan’s author, Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week.
Too bad the Democrats have to go back to the drawing board to draw up a new surrender strategy instead of getting behind the effort. That would be the quickest way to end this thing and they could still get the Al Jazeera Constitution to give them credit.
By getalife
February 25, 2007 04:54 PM | Link to this
Go away.
I rule this blog.
Be the silent minority.
By @@
February 25, 2007 04:58 PM | Link to this
Getalife:
Go back to DailyKos and tell them they’ve got nothing to worry about.
Peters said DOT has put in place a rigorous inspection program to ensure the safe operation of Mexican trucks crossing the border. Yesterday, Peters and Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transportation Luis Téllez announced a program to have U.S. inspectors conduct in-person safety audits to make sure that participating Mexican companies comply with U.S. safety regulations. The regulations require all Mexican truck drivers to hold a valid Commercial Driver’s License, carry proof they are medically fit, comply with all U.S. Hours of Service rules and be able to understand questions and directions in English.
Why are those KOS kiddies always prone to hysteria?
By Here We Go Again
February 25, 2007 05:06 PM | Link to this
Read all about it!
By getalife
February 25, 2007 05:07 PM | Link to this
@@,
They can’t read the traffic signs
Geez.
By getalife
February 25, 2007 05:08 PM | Link to this
Andy,
w planned 9/11?
Please, that idiot is riding his bike during bomb drills.
By @@
February 25, 2007 05:11 PM | Link to this
Oops, I’m sorry Getalife. I linked to the wrong article.
Their approach reflects the idea that success is still possible in Afghanistan, in contrast with Iraq, where UK troops - as General Sir Richard Dannatt, the army chief, suggested last year - may be part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.
Now, try to understand.
The brits are standing down in Basra. Turning it over to the Iraqis. That’s a good thing.
The brits are sending troops to Afghanistan. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have threatened a “spring” offensive. They’re going to help NATO and the other forces there, take out the insurgents. That’s a good thing.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:11 PM | Link to this
Spitmolife, if you think you rule this blog, then why don’t you start with addressing what Conservatives have posted on this blog since Saturday AM. Or, at the very least, address what WD posted this morning.
Personally, I don’t think you have the mental capacity of ruling a straight line.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:14 PM | Link to this
Islam. The religion of peace. If you leave them, you die. Sounds like an LA gang. But, Christianity seems to be the enemy of liberalism. Go figure.
Europe, you are doomed.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/20070223-014518-1922r/
By @@
February 25, 2007 05:16 PM | Link to this
I thought Marc Rich was all entangled in the Israeli Mafia. The BIG CONSPIRACY.
Why did Bill Clinton pardon him?
Ooooooooooooooooooooo…..
By Here We Go Again
February 25, 2007 05:17 PM | Link to this
Read on!
Lots of interesting articles on that site!
By WootenDull
February 25, 2007 05:19 PM | Link to this
According to satellite data published in Science in November 2005, Greenland was losing about 25 cubic miles of ice per year. Dividing that by 630,000 yields the annual percentage of ice loss, which, when multiplied by 100, shows that Greenland was shedding ice at 0.4 percent per century. “Was” is the operative word. In early February, Science published another paper showing that the recent acceleration of Greenland’s ice loss from its huge glaciers has suddenly reversed. Nowhere in the traditionally refereed scientific literature do we find any support for Gore’s hypothesis.
Best Fiction Oscar?
Or maybe the Dullard of the Year?
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
By getalife
February 25, 2007 05:21 PM | Link to this
I do not respond to macaca- (the biggest useful idiot on this blog).
Lookout, there is a Muslim.
Geez.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:22 PM | Link to this
Communist News Network:
Al Sore may announce presidential run during Oscars tonight in the long shot hopes of winning. Heh. Hehehe. HAHAHAHA! Oh sure, and the pig I smoked last night will grow wings and fly.
Hey Sore, if the Arctic ice is melting due to your SUV and Jet-A fuel burning, then how come the Antarctic ice is growing? Heh. Hehehe. HAHAHAHA!
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:24 PM | Link to this
Please liberal demoncat folks, please keep the anti-Semite sewage links off this blog. We Conservatives wouldn’t want to sick the NewsMax links on your punkasses.
Thank you.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:29 PM | Link to this
A Chinese American gives that fat liberal demoncat Rosie O’Pig the b!tchslap from hell. This is priceless. Effin’ liberal hypocritical pig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJCkHu3trKc&embed=1
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:34 PM | Link to this
I’ve posted this link many times over the years, but the disease of liberalism always needs a pain pill. This is for all you liboparrots out there that keep saying “where’s Osama.” Sick liberals.
http://www.infowars.com/saved%20pages/PriorKnowledge/Clintonletbinladen.htm
By Here We Go Again
February 25, 2007 05:37 PM | Link to this
Markus,
What’s anti-semitic about the links? Why don’t you discuss the content of the links before you resort to namecalling in order to silence those that don’t agree with you. And…. I’m not a democrat so that doesn’t help your cause any.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:42 PM | Link to this
Spitmolife, I’ll let you know how much of a flying pig’s @ss I give about your opinions of Conservatives on a Conservative blog the minute I get off the toilet.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 05:45 PM | Link to this
HAH! The liberal multiple ID freak chameleon is exposed. Oh SURE. YOU aren’t a demoncat. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
You jackals on the left are too rich.
To answer your question, FREAKSHOW, all I had to do was read this:
“WHAT DID ISRAEL KNOW IN ADVANCE OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS?”
Sickassed liberals.
By @@
February 25, 2007 05:52 PM | Link to this
Al’s been shopping for the Oscars gala.
By Buy Danish
February 25, 2007 05:55 PM | Link to this
HWGA,
Why don’t you try making a point about your link to Counterpunch instead of just linking it over and over again for no discernable?
Is there something in particular that intrigues you there? Or are you being paid a commission to get their subscriptions up?
By Buy Danish
February 25, 2007 05:59 PM | Link to this
Marcus,
In all fairness to HWGA, he could be a member of any of these:
Green Party, Communist Party USA, American Nazi Party, Freedom Socialist Party, or Labor Union Party…
By Buy Danish
February 25, 2007 06:02 PM | Link to this
Woops! Missing word at 5:55 -
for no discernable reason.
And may I congratulate the AJC - there was zero delay for my 5:59 post!
By Markus
February 25, 2007 06:03 PM | Link to this
BD-
More than likely, all of the above. The disease of liberalism knows no bounds.
Liberalism - indoctrinating one unused mind at a time
By Here We Go Again
February 25, 2007 06:08 PM | Link to this
Markus,
I believe [Godwin’s Law] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_Law) applies to you! Just exchange Nazi for anti-semite.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 06:09 PM | Link to this
Once again the smackdown of the disease of liberalism prevails itself on this blog. Naturally, we can’t do this during the weekdays because we Conservatives are working to pay for the neoStalinist social causes in this nation. Liberalism is about as useful to the individual as six t!ts on a bull.
By Markus
February 25, 2007 06:15 PM | Link to this
Wrong again as usual liberal FREAKSHOW. Nazis call and continue to call for the destruction of Israel and Jews. Nazis were SOCIALISTS. Now, don’t you pathetic sickassed liberals constantly b!tch about the existence of Israel and the “J-E-W-S”* own all the wealth as sick liberal demoncat Mr. McKinney said?
You fool nobody but the enemy. Sickassed liberal FREAK.
By Richard
February 26, 2007 08:34 AM | Link to this
What the hell is this blog column doing in here? Huh?
Is Joe Doyle, Wooten’s new butt buddy that he’s trying to make happy? This isn’t a political blog, it’s Wooten trying to kiss Doyle’s @$$ for some reason.
Guess Wooten is tired of his sexcapades with tftt and has moved on to Doyle.
By D'oh
February 26, 2007 01:40 PM | Link to this
wow. you guys are just filled with mouth-frothing hate aren’t you! As a strict fiscal conservative/social liberal I find it facinating that the left can’t say anything nice about the right and the right returns their regard. Are you people children that you can’t see any good in people who disagree with you?
all y’all should have your filty mouths washed out with soap! SHAME!