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Women Veterans Can Now Text with VA Call Center
Customer experience today is all about choice. Specifically, organizations have to give customers engagement options, so they can use their channel of choice at all times. It’s a sign of the times. With nearly everyone using multiple channels in their daily professional and personal lives, they expect the same options when it comes to engaging with businesses. They want to communicate in whatever way is easiest and most convenient for them, and more often than not, that has become text messaging.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs understands that and has added text messaging as an option for its Women Veterans Center. The move is part of the VA’s efforts to ensure Veterans are able to easily have access to benefits, healthcare, and other resources.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for women Veterans to get answers about eligibility requirements, benefits, services and more,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “By offering new methods of communication, such as texting, we can reach more women Veterans and support their healthcare needs more quickly.”
This is important because women are among the faster-growing groups of Veterans, and the number of women using VA healthcare services has tripled since turn of the millennium, to more than 500,000 today. As a result of the growth, its call center has taken some 83,000 inbound calls and made 1.3 million outbound calls. As the number of women Veterans continues to increase, the demand on the call center will grow as well.
Adding text messaging to its communications options, which also includes voice and live chat, not only gives Veterans greater choice, but helps reduce the strain on the contact center staffed by female VA employees. The new feature brings the Women Veterans Center in line with other VA call centers that help Veterans access information and provide assistance in times of crisis, and continues VA’s commitment to ensuring quality communication with the Veteran community.
Edited by Erik Linask
