Moscow Public Call Centre marks five years: Most frequent enquiries

The Moscow Public Call Centre is marking its five-year anniversary. Since 2015, the centre’s operators have received more than 54 million calls from Muscovites, including 22 million that were dealt with by a voice-activated digital assistant. Most residents call the hotline to check if their paperwork is ready, or to find out contact details for government bodies or management companies. Questions related to migration and Russian passport issuance are also among the most frequently asked.

“The Public Call Centre was based on the city’s public hotline. It is a unique project for both Russia and Europe. Moscow residents can call the hotline any time of the day or night and get answers to thousands of questions concerning different areas of life. We are constantly improving functions and introducing new technologies to improve the quality of our customer service and reduce waiting times. For example, the speech synthesis, recognition and analysis system and the speech-to-text service took customer service to a whole new level,” commented Director of the city hotline Andrei Savitsky.

Customer demand is growing every year. Over the past nine months, the hotline has received some 9.5 million calls, 4 million more than in the same period last year.

The call centre also proved helpful when Muscovites had questions about the risk of contracting the coronavirus. Call operators processed almost 4 million calls regarding COVID-19. More than one million of the calls received this year concerned the working hours of government services centres. Residents also wanted to get contact information for social welfare services.

Voice-activated digital assistants processed over 6 million calls between January and September. This is three times more than during the whole of 2019 when the service processed two million enquiries.

The virtual operator deals with around 60 percent of calls. It can answer questions in 62 areas and find information in its knowledge base two to three times faster than human operators. The robot will not only find the address and opening hours of the nearest government services centre but also notify a caller when their documents are ready for collection.

In 2018, the Moscow Public Call Centre received a prestigious award, the Crystal Headset, for best customer service.

The Moscow Public Call Centre is a point of contact for all issues related to the operation of government agencies, including government services centres. By calling the hotline at +7 495 777 7777, Muscovites can find out whether their documents are ready or whether their requests, made via the Government Services website, the Moscow Government Services app or the one-stop-shop service of the local executive bodies, have been processed. Call operators can refer customers to a telephone number for enquiries regarding housing and utilities, or provide contact details for a management company, a social welfare service or another government agency.

The Moscow Public Call Centre comprises over 40 hotlines. For housing and utilities enquiries, Muscovites can call +7 495 539 5353. To make a doctor’s appointment, they need to call +7 495 539 3030. The Moscow Transport contact centre provides information on public transport routes, payment options and fares. The contact number is +7 495 539 5454 or 3210 for mobile phone users.