Immigration New Zealand, a service of the Department of Labour that helps people into New Zealand to visit, study, work and live, has launched a new initiative that allows staff to send personalised texts and emails to clients.
Implemented by Gen-i and Datasquirt using Datasquirt’s CONTACT product, the text and email application complements the Department’s existing contact centre, and has delivered a range of benefits including significant cost savings, reduced administration time and an increase in the quantity and quality of its client communications.
It has also opened up a range of opportunities for matching skilled workers with job shortages and marketing New Zealand as a residence destination, thereby contributing to the country’s overall economic growth.
The success of the application led to Immigration New Zealand winning the recent Telecommunications Users Association New Zealand (TUANZ) Local and Central Government Award for 2007.
Antony Harris, Manager of iBranch at Immigration New Zealand, believes the solution is a first for any Immigration Service.
“We are the first Immigration Service in the Asia-Pacific region to use this approach and we don’t believe anyone else in the world is doing it,” said Harris.
The Department introduced its “Proactive Communications Programme” in October 2006 to improve the way it communicated information to its clients, namely visitors, workers, investors, students and permanent migrants. The objective was to take the initiative in its client relations by proactively giving their clients the information they needed, before they asked for it.
The new hosted solution enables Immigration New Zealand to communicate in a variety of ways using personalised texts and emails, including permit expiry reminders, policy and fee change notifications, notices for immigration agents and information about job opportunities.
Benefits across the board
Immigration New Zealand is currently sending between 30,000 and 40,000 proactive messages per month for $50,000 per annum.
“If we still used the old communication channels this volume of communication would cost anywhere between $600,000 and $1 million,” said Harris.
The application has also improved the quality of the Department’s communication with migrants and agents.
“The application gives us a less formal and more personalised approach to our communications, making the process of moving to a new country seem friendlier and more straightforward. The text and email messages are easier to understand for people with English as a second language, and more portable for people traveling or not at permanent addresses.”
Another major success factor has been the reduction in administrative time.