Case Study: Sweden Creates a Countrywide Contact Centre

The Swedish Tourist Association (STF) has launched “The Swedish Number” with support from Intelecom.

“The Swedish Number” enables people from all over the world to speak to a randomly selected Swede – about anything! The new initiative is built on cloud-based contact centre technology from Intelecom.

Sweden became the first country in the world to introduce a constitutional law to abolish censorship 250 years ago, in 1766. To honour this anniversary, Sweden has introduced its own phone number. This means that anyone in the world can call and talk about Sweden with ordinary Swedish citizens working in collaboration via a single telephone number, +46 771 793 336.

The technology enables the solution by queuing and distributing calls, producing reports, and keeping statistics. Swedish people can make themselves available for calls via the cloud-based contact centre by downloading a smartphone app, based on Intelecom’s open application interfaces (APIs).

This means that anyone in Sweden with a smartphone and a Swedish number can register as an “Ambassador to Sweden”.

One of the registered Swedes is then randomly selected to discuss and answer questions from people in other countries who call in and are curious about Sweden. The caller does not know the identity of who is answering their call, as everything is handled anonymously.

On the campaign page www.theswedishnumber.com there is live data from the contact centre provided directly by the solution, in addition to promotional videos and additional information.

“The cloud allows flexibility of location, plus device and technology independence, which are just some of the factors that have enabled this unique project,” said Børge Astrup, Managing Director of Intelecom Contact Centre Division. ”Previously, this could not have been possible because agents would have been required to sit in the same physical location using onsite telephony equipment. It is exciting to see the service is already a great success, and we will follow progress of the countrywide Swedish contact centre with interest.”

For more information about Intelecom, visit their website.