Call Center Chaos

Getting Ahead of the Impact

As a part of the Covid-19 crisis we have certainly learned about social distancing, wearing masks, using hand sanitizer and the like. Of course, this is easy if I am walking through Walmart, or taking my dog for a walk. This is much more difficult if I have a work environment where I need to work closely with others (i.e. healthcare workers).

In the D2 world, one of the areas of most concern includes HUB’s, Pharmacies, PBM’s and others who have call center environments. In April the Coronavirus hit a call center in South Korea which has sent shivers across various parts of the world. In addition, according to the research director of the National Association of Call Centers, Call Centers have a ‘greater risk of exposure’ for employees due to the tight spaces, shared equipment, and people moving for shifts. He goes on to say that the crisis “demands a solution” that may overturn how the business has operated for years, especially given that experts are calling for limits as low as 10 on how many people should be together at one time. His advice ultimately is to “automate and go to the cloud as fast as you can” because it’s the only way to cope with the spreading virus. That said it may be time to revisit the entire call center structure.

What we have heard from many organizations falls into 2 potential areas 1) volume has dropped off dramatically and they are now significantly overstaffed, (at least in the short term), or 2) persons are struggling to work from home as they (and their companies) are not structured to support remote working. We at D2 are working with multiple entities to automate call center functions and are able to do so in a very short time period with over 85% of the patients responding to digital engagement.