The Customs’ switchboard hotline number, 1900 96 96 47, enhances the ability to receive the problems of enterprises.

Mr. Tran Cong Tuan - Director of Customs Data Center (Customs IT and Statistics Department - General Department of Vietnam Customs)

Would you please tell us the reason why the General Department of Customs officially put into service the switchboard hotline, 1900 96 96 47?

In the past, the Helpdesk Division of the Customs Data Center has used 8 digit telephone numbers to receive calls for supporting and answering questions from the business community and local customs officials.

However, those were numbers using analog switchboard technology, so there were restrictions on receiving calls.

Over the course of time, enterprises calling the HelpDesk Division increased rapidly, so the previous phone numbers were unable to handle the demand.

Therefore, in order to improve the capacity for receiving and answering questions from enterprises and local customs officials, the General Department of Vietnam Customs developed and deployed an operational management system for the HelpDesk Division in order to serve for the implementation of the VNACCS/VCIS automatic clearance systems and other centralized customs IT systems. Thus, they set up the switchboard hotline, 1900 96 96 47.

This switchboard can receive 35 calls at the same time, which is 4 times higher than the previous one, and simultaneously conduct 15 outgoing calls for contacting and consulting businesses. The extension for receiving calls is also very simple and depends on the increased number of calls from enterprises.

In fact, during the testing process (since April of 2018) and official operation (since 10/8), it showed that the switchboard has worked effectively. There were peak days such as the first phase of implementing Decree 59/2018 / ND-CP and Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, when the switchboard received more than 1,000 calls per day.

There were concerns when enterprises called the switchboard there would be a phenomenon of no officials receiving and answering the call. According to you, did the case actually happen?

In the past, due to the use of landline numbers as mentioned above, the system could get overloaded and when enterprises called, they could face the situation of a busy call line, or the switchboard was down at that particular moment, so an official could not receive the call.

However, with the current switchboard, all incoming calls from enterprises are automatically recorded and stored (such as the switchboard system of banks- reporter) in order to help leaders at all levels of the Customs sector to monitor and manage the activities of the HelpDesk Division, and take measures to handle the responsibility of customs officials if incoming calls are not received or answered.

It could be said, with the switchboard number 1900 96 96 47, all incoming calls from enterprises are received and processed.

The Customs News received information that there were cases where enterprises called the switchboard but they were not answered immediately, and cases when the HelpDesk Division instructed enterprises to directly contact the Customs Branch. Could you please tell us more about these cases?

Through the monitoring of these cases, there were two major problems when enterprises called the HelpDesk Division that were technical and professional issues.

In the case of technical problems, the HelpDesk could not respond promptly.

On the other hand, for the questions about professional activities, some cases could be answered directly. However, if there were problems related to specific specialized operations of departments, departments under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, this is when the HelpDesk must contact the respective units.

According to regulations, within 1 to 3 working days the units must have answered. Upon receiving information from the units, the HelpDesk Division will respond immediately to the company.

The case of directing businesses to contact the customs branch, these were specific problems relating to when enterprises were directly implementing procedures at the Customs Branch, so the HelpDesk can only identify and point out the contact point at the Customs Branch in order to handle problems for enterprises.

To further improve the quality and effectiveness of receiving and answering inquiries via the switchboard number 1900 96 96 47, what are the expectations from the business community?

Currently, the HelpDesk has 11 customs officials, meanwhile the number of daily problems is very high, with an average 350 calls per day and 250 e-mails from the business community.

Thus, a customs official has to receive and handle about 60 questions per day while the numbers of calls are much higher on peak days.

In addition, the time frame that the enterprises usually call the HelpDesk is usually at 8 a.m to 9 a.m, and 11 a.m to early afternoon every day. Therefore, the work pressure set for the HelpDesk Division is very high. So much so, that even the customs officials do not have a normal lunch time, and they have to take turns to have lunch at work in order to answer the calls from enterprises in a timely fashion.

So, during the process of contacting, exchanging information, we are looking forward to receiving calls with a gentle attitude in order to achieve good results in answering questions.

We understand that when enterprises have difficulties, they will become disgruntled. However the work pressure at the HelpDesk is very high, so we look forward to receiving the sharing of opinions from the business community.

Thank you so much!