Case Study: Oxfordshire Council Reduced AHT by 9.58 Minutes With Zoom

Challenges

For Oxfordshire County Council, the journey began in a state of frustration. The team was tethered to a previous CCaaS and voice supplier that was failing to keep pace with the modern world.

Richard Merritt, Service Delivery Manager, recalls the disconnect: “It wasn’t where we wanted it to be. The experience that our residents had not been what our vision matched.”

The Council faced a classic public sector dilemma: modernization often risks exclusion. Richard highlights the specific anxiety they faced: “How do we make sure that we’re offering digital solutions to people that can use them whilst making sure that those that can’t don’t get left behind?”

To solve this, the team spent a year scouring the market. The sheer weight of the search took a toll on the team’s morale.

“If I’m honest with you, we got quite fatigued. We spent probably about a year actually looking at different solutions and different providers.”

They knew they “had to find something different”.

The Solutions

The turning point: Zoom’s “toy shop” of technology

The gloom lifted during a visit to Zoom’s Experience Centre in London. The goal of this session was to provide a broad overview of how the Council could improve customer experience across the organization. For a team accustomed to rigid legacy systems, seeing the variety of the Zoom portfolio was a revelation.

Richard Merritt describes the immediate shift in perspective:

“I think it was being like in a toy shop when it came to technology. What we saw with Zoom was this awesome product that came at a price we could afford.”

This affordability was the key to unlocking innovation. Like most local authorities, the Council is under pressure to “do more with less”.

The accessible pricing of Zoom Contact Centre allowed them to look at efficiency gains delivered through AI, personalizing the resident journey through omnichannel support.

Turning this vision into reality required exceptional teamwork. The Council worked closely with partners Softcat and Acceleraate to implement the solution within a tight timeline.

The commitment from the Council’s team, combined with Acceleraate’s technical expertise, resulted in a rapid and successful launch, serving as a blueprint for how public bodies can navigate complex digital shifts safely.

The Results

The reward: Real metrics, real resident impact

The implementation brought immediate clarity to the organization. Previously, the Council lacked visibility into their operations, but the new system provided access to real-time historical reporting and analytics – information they never had access to before.

This allowed them to understand better why residents were contacting them and tailor services accordingly.

By redesigning services around “life events” rather than departmental silos, the advantages for residents have been staggering:

• Drastic Reduction in Wait Times: Dropped from 5.23 minutes to 2.37 minutes.
• Faster Resolutions: Average Handle Times (AHT) slashed from 14 minutes to 4.42 minutes.
• Smoother Journeys: Internal transfers for services like Adult Social Care decreased by 30%.

Despite the high-tech backend, the focus remained strictly human.

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This post has been re-published by kind permission of Zoom - view the original article.

Call Centre Helper is not responsible for the content of these guest blog posts. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Call Centre Helper.

Reviewed by: Robyn Coppell