[June 01, 2012]

Accenture Helps 1746 in Rio de Janeiro Celebrate Successful First Year

The citywide call center 1-RIO that serves as a single point of contact, making it easier for 6 million citizens to report problems or request more than 700 different municipal services, successfully completed its first year of service. Accenture (NYSE: ACN) helped implement the service that enables citizens to dial 1746 to report problems, such as potholes on streets and sidewalks, broken street lights, clearing sewer grates and water tunnels to prevent dengue fever and other health-related inspections.

From April through November 2011, reports of public lighting and pothole problems decreased 56 percent and 22 percent respectively. The Municipal Guard has been able to meet new service standards of four hours to solve parking problems for 99 out of every 100 calls, up from 66 out of every 100 calls before the improvements suggested by Accenture (News - Alert), according to Pedro Paulo Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro chief of staff.

Using advanced public management tools like Lean Six Sigma and data analytics, Accenture worked with the Chief of Staff Office and other city departments to help make it easier for citizens to access government services and resolve problems.

"Accenture has helped reduce the average time to resolve critical service problems from 35 hours to less than five ours," said Carvalho. "The city's main public companies and departments that represent 85 percent of the program's scope already are linked with 1746."

Accenture organized and managed the implementation -- converting different communication channels from 30 municipal agencies into one single point of contact -- and analyzing the information to recommend process improvements and eliminate service failures. The system makes it faster for the city to respond to and solve problems, helping the municipality identify service standards and create preventive strategies that have improved services.

Analyzing the data collected from each call to 1746 enables the municipal administration to better know the "citizen's voice" and the city's needs. It brings transparency to the performance of each municipal agency and it helps the city anticipate problems. The data also can be used to help make budget decisions and evaluate the performance of each municipal department. Accenture produces daily reports and shares findings with the city's chief of staff and mayor.

"Our process and strategies help us respond to problems more efficiently and quickly. The service request enables us to envision the immediate needs of each neighborhood in the city," said Mayor Eduardo Paes.

The 1746 system is available on landlines, cell phones, the internet and applications for smart phones and tablets. Citizens can send a picture directly to the service center and follow-up on the problem from their mobile devices.

"Accenture is bringing to Brazil, modern and proven management tools for the public sector that are adapted to the characteristics of our country, enabling the government to serve better, at lower cost to their customers, citizens, businesses, servers and the government itself," said Ronald Munk, who leads Accenture's Health & Public Service business in Latin America. "A program like 1746 can transform the public administration. After one year, 1746 is already part of the daily routine of millions of residents of Rio de Janeiro. Accenture is proud to participate in the transformation of cities in Brazil as well as around the world."

Accenture participated of the implementation of a similar program NYC 311 in New York City, (U.S.) that has been operating for more than 8 years.

Learn more about Accenture's work on 1-RIO and with governments delivering Public Service for the Future.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 246,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US $25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31. 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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