At the Harris Customer Training Conference (HCTC) in Las Vegas last month, Daina Montgomery and Latrice Nichols from the IT Applications team earned the coveted Outstanding Customer Service Award. Participant submissions displayed innovative approaches for improving customer service using Harris software with shared tips on robotic process automation, payment kiosks, and the automation platform. Newark was chosen as the winner by other Harris users during a special session of the conference. 

The winning nomination submitted by the City of Newark team focused on the automation of manual tasks performed by the customer service representatives in the Payments and Utility Billing (PUB) group as well as the Accounting team. By automating multiple functions and improving internal processes, the employees became more efficient and were able to deliver better customer service to Newark utility account holders. Their work also freed up vital system load which led to faster processing times and resulted in elevated internal and external customer engagement.

"City staff continually looks for ways to deliver customer service excellence to residents and customers. It's the forward-thinking mindset of our team that makes accomplishments like this possible," said David Del Grande, Finance Director for the City of Newark. "The automation platform is a great example of teamwork and successful implementation. We're fortunate to have such talented staff and appreciate our Harris peers for recognizing our hard work."