Communities of Interest

Government Contact Center Council (G3C)

 

In January 2008, USA Services established a council dedicated to government contact center leaders*.  The Government Contact Center Council is an interagency group of contact center directors and managers who have responsibility for center operations and strategy.  We are building a close knit community of contact center leaders from across the government who learn from each other about best practices, problems and solutions, research, trends and other issues important to the group. Read our Strategic Plan. 

Read our white paper, "Removing Barriers to Citizen Engagement."

Our goals:

The three primary goals for the Council are:

1. Improve the ability of contact center leaders to do their jobs by gaining knowledge of best practices and having immediate access to the peers in other agencies
   
2. Improve how government manages contact centers
   
3. Create a dynamic community of government contact center managers

What the Community of Interest does:

To accomplish these goals members:

1. Share information about their best practice, their research, operations and plans for dealing with trends and challenges
   
2. Identify and publicize training and workshops relevant to the community of government customer service professionals
   
3. Serve as advisors to the much larger Customer Service Community of Interest
   
4. Network with other groups and organizations that provide knowledge and value to contact center leaders

How the Council is organized:

The Council is self-directed with a council chair provided by Office of Citizen Services.  One major purpose of this group is to build close relationships among contact center leaders, and for that reason we encourage meetings be attended in person, although calling in is possible -- especially for contact center leaders not in the Washington, DC, area.

 

Sponsor: Office of Citizen Services, GSA

How to Get Involved: Contact the Council Chair Robert.Smudde@gsa.gov for information.

 

 

* A Contact Center is defined as: A formally recognized communication vehicle operated to facilitate customer service, public or stakeholder input, and provision of information to external parties. Typically, a contact center must have (1) a published, publicly available description of topical scope and services; (2) a published, publicly available phone number and/or Web/e-mail address; and (3) be operated on a regular schedule. A contact center must have a minimum of three dedicated full-time equivalents (FTEs) responding to external or internal customers. Excluded from this definition would be individuals, whether federal employees or contractor employees, serving as points of contact for a business function performed by a department.