Call centres set up to assist with service delivery, payment problems

Call centre solutions company Advance Call has developed and operates two call centres for government to improve service delivery and assist in the payment of small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs).

The company runs the public sector SMME payment assistance hotline, which was launched in September last year on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Small Enterprise Development Agency. It ensures the facilitation of overdue payments in relation to services rendered to public-sector institutions and government departments.

Advance Call operations manager Taryn Bond says that the hotline is a government initiative that aims to provide SMMEs with a higher level of cash-flow security and the opportunity to grow and develop their businesses. It has facilitated to the value of over R8-million in five months.

The SSME payment assistance hotline uses four channels – tele-phone, fax, email and Web application, to provide an efficient and effective service to SMMEs.

Bond explains that the hotline logs a complaint against a govern- ment department, contacts the dedicated liaison official in the finance division and finds out why an SMME has not been paid. It then reports back to the SMME regarding the reason for nonpayment and what should be done to receive payment

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