100 millionth caller lights up NYC’s 311 switchboard

According to officials Monday, New York City’s 311 Customer Service Center served its 100 millionth call. Just entering its seventh year on the job, NYC’s non-emergency service number is dabbling with McDonald’s-esque stats.

Inside government technology circles, the milestone is an important one because the undertaking consolidated more than forty separate call centers and hotlines, rearranging eleven pages of government listings in the City phone book to three omniscient numbers: 3-1-1. City officials said the Customer Service Center handles around 50,000 calls per day, setting the bar for other call centers around the world.

One of the City’s primary partners during the project was Accenture, who launched the Center and has since been working with the city to make improvements and push more services online. 311 Online went live last year with Accenture’s help, providing access to more than 3,000 NYC services. And in January of this year, new capabilities were added to the Web-based component.

According to Accenture, 311 Online now has new universal intake abilities, which will handle additional high-volume complaints online. The system will also unveil

• Online Facility Finder – a tool to search and locate City and Health and Human Service facilities using NYC’s GIS/Mapping system
• Google Translation – 311 Online translation to more than 30 languages
• My311 – which allows users to customize information based on services

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