Noteboom The Law Firm

New Program Improves Veterans’ Communication with VA

September 27, 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) just rolled out a new program. The Veterans Relationship Management (VRM) customer service initiative will span multiple years. Its focus is improving veterans' contact with the VA as far as accessing information on care and benefits.

The program will attempt to advance interaction with the VA by improving telephone services at VA call centers. Additionally, the VA's eBenefits website, which provides information on veterans' benefits information, will be enhanced. According to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, the relationship between veterans and the VA will be improved through the VRM and 21st century technology.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) currently runs 8 call centers across the nation. In additional to this, there are multiple call centers run by the VA. By the end of the year, all of these call centers should be offering: 

• Better and faster quality service;
• Phone call recordings; and
• Post-call quality reviews.

In recent history, there have been multiple reports focusing on call centers not only giving out bad customer service but completely wrong information. The VRM system guarantees veterans better experiences with VA and VBA call centers.

The VA's eBenefits website will also be upgraded. These upgrades will include integrated desktop interfaces for dealing with VA representatives online as well as enhanced self-service tools.

Offering the improved web-enabled services will allow the VA to provide much better online service through new technology and better training. Both improvements will help the VA provide better service to veterans, which is the ultimate goal.