Frank Bisignano runs the Social Security Administration now. He cut phone wait times to a record low. This is the story we're celebrating.
The bar was so low it was underground. Calling the SSA used to mean blocking off your afternoon, microwaving lunch three times, and explaining to your boss why you missed the 2pm. Now Bisignano says the wait is shorter. He fixed a problem that shouldn't exist by doing the thing every call center figured out in 2003. Hire people. Route calls better. Don't let grandma hold for six hours to ask about her $1,400 check.
This is what passes for administrative triumph. A federal agency learned that customers hang up when you treat them like sh*t. Revolutionary stuff. Next they'll discover that people prefer not to die in waiting rooms or that mailing a form back within the same fiscal year builds trust.
Retail traders saw this headline and immediately started longing call center software stocks. They don't know which companies provide the infrastructure. They don't know if the SSA built it in-house or outsourced it to a contractor that bills $8 million for a database some intern could've made in Google Sheets. They just know "record low wait times" sounds like innovation and innovation means number goes up.
Bisignano comes from the financial services world. He ran Fiserv before this. He knows how to optimize throughput and crush efficiency metrics. He applied those skills to an agency where the previous standard was "we'll get to you when we get to you, maybe never." Clearing that bar doesn't require genius. It requires giving a sh*t.
The legacy issue wasn't the wait times. It was that nobody cared enough to fix them until now. Congratulations to the Social Security Administration for reaching the customer service level of a mid-tier cable company.
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash
Leave a Comment