The Bahrain National Contact Centre (NCC), which provides over 300 services on behalf of government agencies, celebrated a major milestone by responding to its 150,000th call.

Silah Gulf, a multi-award winning business process outsourcing and customer experience provider, operates the 8000 8001 hotline. Silah is a joint venture between UK-based Merchants and the eGovernment Authority.

In the last 18 months, the NCC has received over 165,074 calls and has responded to an average of 94 per cent of these calls (154,842 calls until February 22, 2011).

This rate of service makes it one of the top performing contact centres in the region.

As per current statistics, calls peak between 8am and 2pm during weekdays, which is normal working hours for a ministry in Bahrain, even though the centre is open 24 hours. The Average Handle Time (AHT) for a call is three minutes, 34 seconds.

AHT is used globally to measure the total average amount of time a call centre agent spends talking and in post-call work in relation to a call.

'I am very proud of my team. They've delivered some outstanding results in the past year alone,' Silah chief executive Joe Tawfik said. 'Since it has gone live, the NCC has never gone offline.'

'The centre, based in Manama, provides consistent, efficient and dependable customer service to the general populace of Bahrain. The NCC has helped improve services offered by the government for its citizens by offering round-the-clock services,' he added.

'Serviced by 60 Bahrainis, with women making up 48 per cent of the team, the NCC is a great career booster for young adults,' remarked Silah general manager Nada Al Gassab.

'Conscious of the fact that we represent the government, we maintain a consistent quality score average of 92 per cent,' she added.-TradeArabia News Service