Interview
The Gist
- Managing crisis with technology. Amy Sessions shares how Clearwater’s utility customer service team leverages new tech to handle hurricanes and high call volumes.
- Enhancing agent and customer experience. From callback features to AI-driven chat, Clearwater is improving service efficiency and reducing wait times.
- The future of municipal customer service. Sessions discusses the push for hybrid work, cloud-based systems and digital transformation in city services.
In this episode of CMSWire TV's Beyond the Call, CMSWire Editor-in-Chief Dom Nicastro sits down with Amy Sessions, utility customer service division manager for the City of Clearwater, Fla. Amy shares how her team navigates the high-stakes challenges of municipal customer service, from managing a call volume that serves 117,000 residents and 14 million visitors to responding to back-to-back hurricanes. She highlights the impact of new technology solutions — like callback features and AI-driven chat — to improve both customer and agent experiences.
Amy also discusses the evolving role of digital transformation in city services, the push for hybrid work flexibility and why prioritizing agent experience is the key to delivering better customer outcomes. This interview covers how Clearwater is adapting to change, leveraging automation and ensuring residents receive fast, efficient support — even in the face of major disruptions.
Table of Contents
- Episode Transcript: Conversation on Call Center Crisis Management
- Handling Customer Service for Clearwater
- Customer Challenges and Call Volume
- Billing Issues and Unexpected Charges
- Handling Hurricanes and Disaster Preparedness
- Implementing Callback Features for Better Service
- Addressing Call Routing Issues
- Reducing Hold Times and Improving Customer Experience
- Top Customer Complaints Before System Enhancements
- Challenges During Crisis Situations
- Tracking Key Metrics and Call Center Improvements
- The Impact of New Technology on Performance
- Prioritizing Agent Experience
- Fostering a Positive Work Environment
- Modernizing Technology for a Better Agent Experience
- Balancing a Multi-Generational Workforce
- Looking Ahead to 2025
- Investing in AI and Automation
- Enhancing Agent Efficiency with AI and Automation
- Exploring AI Chatbots for Customer Support
- Shifting to Digital Channels
- Navigating Budget Approvals for Technology Investments
- Challenges of Implementing AI in Government Services
- AI Chatbot Research and Multi-Department Considerations
- The Challenges of AI-Driven Customer Support
- Communication Challenges—AI and Human
- Lessons from the Recent Hurricane Season
- Lessons Learned: Cloud Migration for Business Continuity
- The Push for Remote Work in Public Sector Customer Service
- Final Thoughts: The Future of Customer Service in Clearwater
Episode Transcript: Conversation on Call Center Crisis Management
Editor's note: This transcript was edited for clarity and brevity.
Dom Nicastro: Hey everybody, Dominic Nicastro, CMSWire Editor-in-Chief here for another round of our CMSWire TV show, Beyond the Call. Today we are catching up with Amy Sessions, Utility Customer Service Division Manager at the City of Clearwater, Florida. We're going to talk all about hurricane prep and what it takes to handle massive call volume, and how they've made improvements over the last few months.
Amy, it's great to join you and be on the call with you.
Amy Sessions: Yeah, you too. Thank you.
Handling Customer Service for Clearwater
Dom Nicastro: So Clearwater is gonna establish right off the bat. The City of Clearwater, they're doing okay after my Salem State baseball team from the Boston area in the late '90s swept Clearwater Christian Academy, all those trips to St. Pete. They're okay?
Amy Sessions: It's been hard, but through a lot of counseling and prayer groups, we're working it through. We're working through it.
Dom Nicastro: You're working through it? Alright. I didn’t want to haunt anybody from Clearwater who’s watching this and sees my face and, you know, the stellar third base that I played back in the day. I'm glad... Yeah, good.
So I know Clearwater Christian is the number one sports team watch in that area, so, you know, I had to get that addressed off the bat. But yeah, customer experience. I mean, it’s crazy. When I was looking up the numbers for Clearwater, you’re handling 117,000-ish residents, 14 million visitors. And you know, I’ve done some reporting recently on companies that have like 500 customers, and I’m like, hey, stop complaining. They got 117,000!
So tell me about your team and kind of like where you sit on this whole big customer service team—the utility side of it—and how it fits into the big picture of Clearwater’s customer service.
Amy Sessions: I oversee everything from start to finish. So I oversee the meter readers who go out and read everybody’s meter. ... But we do it the old-fashioned way. We have the picks and things, we lift up your lid, we read it, we punch it in, we call it a day.
And that then goes to the next department I oversee, which is billing and collections. So we’ll send out your bill, we make sure everything is good, and then we take your money happily. And then after that we have the customer service side of things where if you’re just new to the area and want to set up service, we’ll take care of you. If you’re unfortunately going to leave, we help you take care of that too. And anything in between.
Customer Challenges and Call Volume
Dom Nicastro: No one's gonna leave Clearwater. Come on now. It's one of the best destinations ever. Clearwater, St. Pete, Tampa, Ybor City, I know that area well. As the aforementioned baseball travels would tell you.
But you know, this is like, to me, Amy, it’s like a masterclass in customer service when you're working for a city. It's like the most grueling… you know, I say this a lot, but no one calls the customer service department to give you a pat on the back. I mean, they call you when they have a problem.
So tell me about the typical sort of things that you deal with. We’re going to get into hurricane prep and that’s huge, obviously, but typically on a day when there’s no hurricanes, what kind of calls do you get?
Amy Sessions: We get everything under the sun. The vast majority right now until we get it automated is, you know, “Hey, what’s my bill? I’m not really sure what I owe, when is it due?” Then we have the token, “I just moved to the area” or “I relocated from this house to this house, I need to transfer service or set up service.” So it’s the standard disconnect and billing questions. That’s the bulk of what they get there.
Billing Issues and Unexpected Charges
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, yeah. It’s straightforward, it’s math, it’s down and dirty. Like, “Hey, listen, tell me what I owe. Why do I owe this much? Why did it double? This price doesn’t seem right.” Like those kind of calls.
Amy Sessions: Yeah, and especially after Hurricane Milton and Helene, there was a lot of seawall breakage and pipe breakage. Customers who may not be at home—maybe they're snowbirds and they stayed up north until it was over—they’re coming back and getting bills as high as $5,000, $6,000, and they don’t understand why. Because the whole time they were gone, water was running.
Dom Nicastro: Man, that’s quite the surprise.
Amy Sessions: Yeah, those are special things that we’ve been working through—trying to get either payment arrangements done or figure out what’s going on and see if we can get a credit going, those kinds of things.
Related Article: Top Contact Center Trends to Watch in 2025
Handling Hurricanes and Disaster Preparedness
Dom Nicastro: So you mentioned Helene and Milton, and those were hurricanes that came back to back. Helene made landfall September 26th and then Milton came right after it pretty much, October 9th, just weeks apart.
Now tell me, had your team had any prior experience like that where a hurricane was like boom, boom, back to back? Or anything similar to that at all?
Amy Sessions: No, this was unprecedented. Nine times out of 10, because of the way that Tampa Bay is situated, things either look like they're heading toward us and then dip south, or they look like they’re going to come and skirt us, but they go straight north into the bend. So we have a really nice, natural setup that protects us kind of. I mean, the local thing around here is it’s the Indian mounds that we're all very happy for.
But we have not had anything like this. This was the one that everybody says is “the one we feared.”
Dom Nicastro: Yeah.
Amy Sessions: It was bad.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, no, very sad, very sad. The images, the numbers of people who suffered, lost lives… watching it from New England was heartbreaking.
For me, in terms of your team, your customer service team, what was the preparation like leading up to that? Did you feel like you got enough advance warning? I know you can’t get a lot of advance warning with this, but tell me about the weeks leading up to this and how you prepared your team. Did you have technological challenges leading in that were solved ahead of time? Or did you have to solve them on the fly?
Amy Sessions: The good part about our department is when these emergencies come through, we are not line one. We sit back, our office is closed, we wait until we get the all-clear from all of those amazing people that handle that front-line first response.
So once we get to come in, there’s really no prep that we have to do. We just have to make sure that we got the internet, we’ve got power. If we have those two things, we are good to go.
Implementing Callback Features for Better Service
Amy Sessions: So the minute we were given the all-clear to go back into our building and everything was fine, we came in, and I think the feature that we implemented that has really made the difference was the callback abilities.
Dom Nicastro: Hmm. Yeah, yeah, you had a technology provider that came in. It was Genesys, right? They came in, and that was a difference maker for you guys. What were some of the challenges, let's say a year before that? What were some of the biggest pain points, blockers to success, like sort of before you guys beefed up the systems?
Amy Sessions: Yes. Well, with our old antiquated systems, people would call, and they didn’t know how long they were going to wait. They didn’t know what was going on. They weren’t even sure if they got to the right number because the whole front system just said "City of Clearwater." It didn’t tell you specifically that you were with utilities. Now, it branches off to all the different areas. So we would get calls that didn’t even really belong to us.
Addressing Call Routing Issues
Amy Sessions: Unfortunately, the agents did have the opportunity to refuse a call and send it back into the queue. It could be for legitimate reasons like, "I’m working on a big thing, I have to get the notes in here, I didn’t mean to hit the queue to go live, let me flow that back through."
But now, with the systems we have, it’s an automatic answer. You can’t refuse the call. You’re there, it’s going to beep. You can put yourself in after-call work so you don’t get one, but the beep comes through, and you have to answer.
Reducing Hold Times and Improving Customer Experience
Amy Sessions: When you call in, within the first minute—I want to say maybe even within the first 30 seconds—but within that initial answer period, after all the instructions go through, it will tell you: "Your current wait time is X minutes." If you’d like us to call you back and hold your place in the queue, leave your phone number and follow the steps.
That has made a world of difference because nobody likes to sit on hold. I’d rather leave my phone number, go about my business—even if it’s just getting a cup of coffee—and then you call me back. That has made a world of difference.
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Top Customer Complaints Before System Enhancements
Dom Nicastro: Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. What were the biggest complaints you used to get before these enhancements? Was it "I was on hold forever" or "I’m in the wrong department"? What were the number one and number two most common complaints?
Amy Sessions: The number one complaint was, "I can’t get through." And that was simply because it was tied to the second biggest complaint: "I’ve been holding for so long." It got to the point where people would bypass everything and go straight to the city manager to raise their complaint. And honestly, they had every right to because nobody wants to sit on hold for two hours—ever.
Challenges During Crisis Situations
Dom Nicastro: Yeah. Yeah. No, no, 100 percent. And especially if they’re in a situation like a hurricane—dealing with damage and uncertainty, wondering if the city is going to help, what their insurance will do—there are so many dynamics at play in that situation.
What were some of those metrics that kept you up at night—or still keep you up at night—when you look at your data? Is it the number of abandoned calls? Is it average handle time? What are you tracking most closely?
Tracking Key Metrics and Call Center Improvements
Dom Nicastro: I get the feeling based on things you've been saying it's like abandoned calls, call answer rates. What kind of things do you worry about the most?
Amy Sessions: I don't worry about a whole lot of anything anymore, but I used to worry about the fact that, you know, a 48% answer rate was horrible. How does that even occur? I came from one of the largest employers in Florida to the City of Clearwater, and it was night and day. There was a set expectation, a way things were supposed to be presented when you were "on stage" with a caller, and a focus on professionalism.
But here, I encountered agents who were just burnt out. There’s no softer way to put it. They were completely exhausted because they didn’t have the tools they needed. And when they finally connected with a customer, those customers were already upset over long wait times. It just compounded into a cycle of frustration, and the city developed a poor reputation for customer service.
The Impact of New Technology on Performance
Amy Sessions: Then we brought in the new system with Genesys, and I think last year our total calls answered within 60 seconds was 86.75%. You can’t ask for much better than that. Now, these agents have the tools they need, and customers aren’t upset because they’re not waiting long. Our average answer time is about 33 seconds.
Even if there is a hold due to emergencies—like a hurricane or last week when a power outage was caused by someone crashing into a pole—customers can request a callback instead of waiting. And when we call them back, they don’t have to go through the queue all over again or feel like they were ignored. That makes all the difference. So those worries I used to have? I don’t have them anymore.
Prioritizing Agent Experience
Dom Nicastro: Yeah. When you talk about agent experience, that keeps coming up over and over again. I travel to conferences throughout the year, talking to technology providers in this space, and every leader like you that I speak with brings up agent experience as a top concern.
When I ask about their biggest challenges and priorities for 2025, improving agent experience is always on the list. I’m starting to think, Amy, that this might even be more important than quarterly financials. In most companies, the front-line agents are the face of the brand. So, to you, what does agent experience really mean? And beyond technology, what are some of the other factors that contribute to burnout?
Fostering a Positive Work Environment
Amy Sessions: I think it was Sir Richard Branson who said, "If you take care of your people, your people will take care of you." And I live by that. If you come into work and you’re not happy, tell me why. Let’s figure it out. If it’s something I can fix, I’ll fix it. If I can’t fix it, then let’s work on a solution together.
But don’t just sit there and tell me you’re unhappy without understanding why. Everyone has rough days, but let’s identify the issue and create a plan to make it better. For a long time, these agents weren’t happy because their equipment was... almost as old as me! And, you know, I’m about half a century old.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah. So like, what, 29 years old? Is that what it was?
Amy Sessions: Ha! No, no, but seriously, when you’re working with a phone system that’s 30, 40, 50 years old, it’s a real problem.
Modernizing Technology for a Better Agent Experience
Amy Sessions: It’s not good. And then the computer systems to go with it, it made everything harder. Your job shouldn’t be hard. You shouldn’t have to worry about technical issues. If you can remove those roadblocks, you can give 100% of your attention to the person on the phone. It makes life so much better.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah. Yeah.
We have all these amazing gadgets in our personal lives. Then you go to work, and it feels like you're using something out of the 1950s. It’s like ringing up someone on an old rotary phone. Essentially, right? That’s what happens. Do you have a lot of younger folks on your team? I mean, like fresh out of college, coming in and being an agent? Because you’re not going to put old, antiquated technology in front of them. They’ll leave in a week.
Balancing a Multi-Generational Workforce
Amy Sessions: Yeah, let’s go back to 1950!
Right now, we have a great mix. We have one team member who just turned 21 and is very excited. And then we have retirees who want to take care of their grandkids and work part-time. So we have a team spanning across all ages.
But I’ll be honest—the younger folks we brought in before our system upgrades didn’t last very long. The outdated systems were a deal-breaker. And on the flip side, when we did upgrade, we lost one or two older team members because it was too much change for them. And that’s okay. It’s about finding the right balance.
Looking Ahead to 2025
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, yeah.
So what’s on your mind for 2025 in terms of agent experience? What are the things you want to keep improving to ensure you’re reducing turnover and keeping your team engaged?
Investing in AI and Automation
Amy Sessions: I want to keep chugging along on the tech train. I want to get an AI assistant—an agent assist, a co-pilot setup—so that it can...
Dom Nicastro: Mmm.
Enhancing Agent Efficiency with AI and Automation
Amy Sessions: Instead of having to put the customer on hold to go find information buried somewhere in SharePoint, the system will start auto-populating relevant data. That way, agents can seamlessly provide information, showcasing their expertise and making interactions smoother.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, that’s a big step up.
Amy Sessions: We’re also very close to implementing email distribution through our phone system. Instead of the old shared Microsoft inbox, emails will come through like phone calls. That means they can be handled the minute they arrive, significantly improving response times.
Dom Nicastro: Mmm. I love that. As a customer, I appreciate when I get an immediate email confirmation. How many times have we been on the phone with an agent, and we say, “This is great, but can you email me this?” Having that instant email capability is a huge plus for agents and customers alike.
Exploring AI Chatbots for Customer Support
Amy Sessions: Yeah, and I want to get a chatbot. I know I might be in the wrong field for this mindset, but I personally don’t want to call anyone—ever. Maybe it’s because I work in customer service, but if there’s an AI chatbot available, I’ll always choose that instead.
It doesn’t matter if it’s AI-driven or a live agent behind it—as long as I can resolve my issue efficiently. So I want to integrate AI chat where the most commonly asked questions can be handled by a bot. If the bot can’t provide the right answer, it should seamlessly transfer the conversation to a live agent.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah. What would you name the chatbot for Clearwater? I’m putting you on the spot, Amy. Time to test your creative side! Does Clearwater have an official logo or mascot?
Amy Sessions: I’d probably go with something cutesy.
Dom Nicastro: Something “bright and beautiful,” right?
Amy Sessions: Yeah, we could call it Sandy!
Dom Nicastro: Sandy is great! That would put even a frustrated customer in a better mood right away. “Hey, I’m talking to Sandy!” Let’s consider that one done.
Shifting to Digital Channels
Dom Nicastro: So we’re looking at AI, better email capabilities, and a chatbot—those are some of your key priorities. What’s your current communication channel breakdown? Is it mostly phone?
Amy Sessions: It’s about a 70-30 split. My boss has a great saying: “We don’t let the work drive us; we drive the work.”
We’re actively shifting more interactions away from traditional phone calls and toward digital self-service options. We’ve implemented SmartSheets for service requests, disconnections and sewer credits. Instead of calling in, customers can now submit their information through the website, attach required documents, and receive a call with their final setup details.
Navigating Budget Approvals for Technology Investments
Dom Nicastro: I’ve spoken with city and state agencies before, and securing funding for technology upgrades can be a challenge. Since this is taxpayer money, do your improvements require a different approval process than what a private company would go through?
Amy Sessions: We need to ensure that our requests are accounted for in the annual budget. The final budget then goes through city council approval, where they can make any tweaks. If we need additional funding, we have to provide thorough documentation, justification, and clear ROI.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, I imagine the city council functions almost like a board of directors for you guys. That adds a unique layer of oversight since all these decisions are public, and residents can attend those meetings. It’s a whole different level of transparency compared to private businesses.
Challenges of Implementing AI in Government Services
Amy Sessions: Yep. It is not for the faint of heart.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, taxpayer money—it better work, too. You know, you have people at city meetings holding up budget reports, questioning expenditures. And then you have folks like me who just sit back, thinking, “What’s my city doing? I don’t know. I pay my property taxes, let’s see.” I’ll probably care more when it affects my street, like, “Hey, what are you doing over there?”
Amy Sessions: There you go. That truly is the vast majority of them anyway.
AI Chatbot Research and Multi-Department Considerations
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, so AI is on the agenda, but it's not fully infused yet, right?
Amy Sessions: No, we’re still researching chatbots. The challenge is, I share the phone system and all related tools with other city departments. This isn’t like a private company where I can say, “This is what I need, and this is how I want it to work.” I have to consider how other departments—like Communications, Planning & Development, and Parks & Rec—will use it.
Even though we handle about 95% of the phone volume, we can’t just implement a bot that works only for us. For example, Planning & Development receives a lot of permitting questions, so a simple AI bot that directs people to the correct webpage would work well for them. But we need a bot that can escalate conversations to live agents. Running two separate bots on one city website is too complex, so we have to find the right balance.
The Challenges of AI-Driven Customer Support
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, and as a consumer, it’s frustrating when you know a bot isn’t going to answer your question properly. Like, “Sandy’s not gonna get this. I know Sandy’s not gonna get this. I need to talk to Amy or someone else.” AI is fast, but if it just sends you to an FAQ, it’s not helpful.
Amy Sessions: Exactly.
Dom Nicastro: I hate when chatbots just drop 27 FAQ links in front of you. Nobody has time for that.
Amy Sessions: Or when the way a chatbot is programmed doesn’t match how a person naturally asks a question. If I want to know my bill, I should be able to type, “Hey, what’s my bill?” and get a direct response asking for my account number or address.
But my logic is unique to me. Someone else might ask the same question in a completely different way. We have to make sure the chatbot understands multiple ways people phrase things and still provides the right answers. That’s a huge challenge.
Communication Challenges—AI and Human
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, communication is always a struggle, whether it’s AI or humans. We’re all trying to express what we need, but sometimes it just doesn’t come out right. Kind of like my marriage—I try to say something, it comes out wrong, and now I’m in trouble.
Amy Sessions: I always follow up with, “Did that make sense?”
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, good luck with that one! If I ask that question, I’d probably get, “What do you mean, did that make sense? Are you saying I don’t understand you?” So that could backfire too.
Related Article: The Rise of Radical Authenticity: Customers Want Real Over Perfect in 2025
Lessons from the Recent Hurricane Season
Dom Nicastro: Let’s wrap this up with the hard lessons learned from this past hurricane season, which was so devastating. Looking back, what are the key takeaways that you and your team will carry forward to be even more prepared next time? I hate to say “next time,” but given where you are, it’s just reality.
Amy Sessions: It is reality.
Lessons Learned: Cloud Migration for Business Continuity
Amy Sessions: One of the things we learned isn’t actually about the phone system—it’s about the program we use for other aspects of our work. It’s still server-based rather than cloud-oriented. If it were cloud-based, then everyone could be issued a laptop.
That would mean as long as employees had power, they could work from home, and we wouldn’t have lost a full week waiting for clearance to return to the office. That’s the biggest takeaway from this experience.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, yeah. And plus, I can imagine the gains in employee experience and agent experience if they had that flexibility. Can they work remotely at all right now?
The Push for Remote Work in Public Sector Customer Service
Amy Sessions: Some departments can work remotely, but only one day a week. Our department, however, doesn’t have that flexibility right now. The city manager and council have specific parameters in place, likely shaped by shared experiences from COVID. In some cases, remote work didn’t work out as expected.
I used to work for Disney, where we worked from home from the start and came into the office one day a week for team meetings. That’s my goal—that’s what I’m pushing for. Because I know remote work improves quality of life for many people. Even if it’s a hybrid setup, like three days at home and two days in the office, it makes a difference.
Happier employees stay longer. They grow within the organization, move into other departments, and keep their institutional knowledge within the city. It’s a win-win.
Dom Nicastro: Yeah, that remote work flexibility is pretty much table stakes now. The more companies can offer that, the better. I haven’t left my kitchen for work since 2012, and I still love it.
Amy Sessions: Yeah. It was a hard adjustment for me coming back to an office environment. I was like, “I have to wear shoes?”
Final Thoughts: The Future of Customer Service in Clearwater
Dom Nicastro: Right. 100 percent. Well, Amy Sessions, Utility Customer Service Division Manager for the City of Clearwater—it’s been great having you. Your role is such a challenging one, but it’s clear you and your team are making a difference.
We’re glad you came through the hurricane season safe and sound, and we appreciate you sharing your insights on CMSWire’s Beyond the Call. We’ll check back in with you down the line.
Now, I don’t know if this episode will come out after the Bucs win the Super Bowl or before they lose it. But either way—go Baker Mayfield! Best of luck to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s been a pleasure having you on.
Amy Sessions: Of course, it’ll be after they win!
Dom Nicastro: That’s the spirit! Thanks again, Amy.
Amy Sessions: Absolutely. This was fun. Bye-bye!
Dom Nicastro: All right, chat soon. Bye.
