Illinois Department Of Revenue

Goals

• Deliver timely, accurate information to taxpayers and businesses
• Keep up with continuous changes in tax code and policies
• Cope with rapidly rising volume of email
• Overcome wave retirement among most experienced staff members

Achievements

• Answers to hundreds of common questions available on the web 24 hours a day
• Email volume slashed by 83%
• System paid for itself within six months
• Easy-to-search knowledge base provides ready answers for staff and constituents

“RightNow lets us use the Internet to maximum advantage, so we can better serve the taxpaying public.” — Adrianne Erley, Communications Specialist, IDOR

At the heart of IDOR’s tax information system is RightNow’s patented knowledge base technology. This knowledge base provides a central repository where IDOR can quickly and easily update important tax information. As new issues arise or policies change, knowledge base answers can be added or modified by IDOR staff without assistance from it’s internal IT resources. By taking advantage of RightNow’s easy-to-use content management tools, IDOR has built up a knowledge base of almost 500 question-and-answer pairs. Just as important, by letting taxpayers’ day-to-day questions drive the creation of this content, IDOR has achieved very tight alignment between the information it provides online and the real needs of the state’s customers.

This highly relevant knowledge base is available to taxpayers on the web through an intuitive interface that makes it easy for site visitors to zero in on the specific topic they’re looking for. So, instead of hunting through dozens of static FAQs (which is how IDOR formerly offered information to the public), taxpayers can now simply search on a keyword or phrase to find what they need. RightNow also automatically maintains a “Top 20” question list so that a significant percentage of site visitors can find their answer with a single mouse-click.

RightNow’s web self-service system—which is very sophisticated in its underlying intelligence, yet extremely easy for taxpayers to use, has made a tremendous difference in IDOR’s operations. Few taxpayers bothered to use the old FAQ pages, preferring instead to simply pick up the phone or send an email with their question. Now, thousands of site visitors are finding the information they need without needing any personal assistance from an IDOR staff member.

As a result, email volume has dropped dramatically. In fact, the number of emails the agency received after implementing RightNow dropped by 83 percent. This means that taxpayers are getting their questions answered immediately, rather than having to wait days for an answer that might help them complete their tax return. It also means that IDOR’s staff is freed up to address other important work, instead of dealing with a relentless barrage of emails. 

Illinois Department of Revenue Homepage

About Illinois Department of Revenue

The primary responsibility of the Department of Revenue is to serve as the tax collection agency for state government and for local governments. The department also administers the state’s lottery and regulates the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The department also oversees local property tax assessments, and functions as the funding agent for the Illinois Housing Development Authority.