The 3-1-1 Houston Service Helpline was implemented in 2001 to offload non-emergency calls to the local 911 emergency line, and to improve customer service to the residents and neighbors of our great city. The 3-1-1 call center provides Houstonians quick, simple, and reliable access to all city services, 18 hours per day, 7 days a week. The 3-1-1 call center uses the Motorola Customer Service Request system (CSR), which is an advanced tracking system for service request intake that provides immediate routing of requests for services to the responsible department.
While the three-digit phone number is the most popular method used to contact the 3-1-1 Helpline, Houstonians have the following options for contacting the call center. Dial 3-1-1 from within the corporate limits of the city, or 713.837.0311 from outside the city limits. Fax to 713.837.0210, or E-mail requests to 311@cityofhouston.net. For those that prefer to create their own service request, we offer the 3-1-1 Web Intake System accessible from the city home page at https://webintake.houstontx.gov/web_intake/Controller
From traffic fines and sewer concerns to pothole problems and neighborhood complaints, Houstonians can contact 3-1-1 and receive assistance with any service provided by the City of Houston. The 3-1-1 Houston Service Helpline puts city government at the fingertips of our customers - one call, fax, e-mail, or online service request, and customers get answers, find the right person, or initiate resolution to their service problem via creation of a 3-1-1 CSR service request.
The current 3-1-1 environment has not seen a significant upgrade since its original deployment in 2001. This refresh will bring the 3-1-1 environment up to current City standards and upgrade all software to the latest releases. Upgrading equipment to current standards should reduce the number of servers & peripheral devices required. Bringing all software current will provide 3-1-1 call takers better functionality to serve the citizens. Taking this action now, 3-1-1 reduces the risks associated with outages resulting from an aging environment.
CITY CALL CENTER
Development of a citywide core competence for call center technologies and deploy a centrally managed platform that all City departments can leverage according to their own needs, budgets, and timelines. This initiative will help departments avoid costs to retain ‘backup’ administrators and highly skilled application specialists and paying the up-front, fixed costs associated with a large technology platform. This will also make telephony available to a larger set of City departments by reducing the up-front costs (the entry fee) associated with call center technologies and turn call center decisions into incremental, annual support cost decisions. A Call Center of Excellence will help the City avoid risks associated with failure of outdated call center equipment, non-redundant deployments of critical call center technologies and lack of expertise to support the call center functional needs. It could also generate additional revenue by selling capability to smaller, local public entities without the means to deploy the technology and charging convenience fees for specialized transactions.
Municipal Courts One Call Solution Center
One of the City’s key call center implementations will be the Municipal Courts One Call Solution Center to provide state of the art call management center equipment and innovative call management services to help citizen’s to take care of their complex court issues virtually or via live support assistance versus having to physically come to report to court locations. The city’s call center initiative in implementing the Municipal Court One Call Solution Center will further support citizen self sufficiency services for other city departments.
