Does a customer access strategy sound like something that would be nice to have? Actually, it’s vital. Just ask anyone who’s part of the University of California’s Retirement Administration Service Center (UC RASC).

The University of California is the world’s leading public research university system, with ten campuses, five medical centers, three national labs and a network of researchers and educators. The RASC provides retirement administration services to professors, administrators and others who are part of the university’s retirement plan — more than 130,000 active members, as well as thousands more who are inactive vested members or retiree health enrollees.

Ellen Lorenz, Director of UC RASC, shares, “The more we worked on our customer access strategy, the more excited we got about it. It has become a tool that all of us within the RASC use and reference. It gives the team a strategic view of why we do what we do — a view that doesn’t get lost in day-to-day activities.” Many RASC employees provided input into shaping the customer access strategy, which the team now refers to as the “Playbook.”

The Playbook has brought many benefits: better focus on priorities; teams that are increasingly self-directed; and projects that come in on time and within budget. It even helps RASC employees envision and develop their careers.

And the most exciting benefit? The University of California uses the RASC as an enticement to attract some of the best professors, doctors, researchers and specialized talent available in the global market. “Our customer access strategy has helped our contact center become a strategic asset,” says Lorenz.

From the latest edition of Contact Center Management on Fast Forward by Brad Cleveland.