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More Hot Trends in I&R
This blog post is the second of two in our Hot Trends in I&R series. To read the complete series, check out our white paper 5 Hot Trends in I&R.
Hot Trend 3: Unified Telephony
The I&R industry is consolidating, and organizations who form unified-telephony networks will become more competitive for new contracts and grants.
Unified networks enable levels of service that far surpass what individual providers can achieve. Advanced call-routing strategies allow centers to take volumes of calls in multiples of what they could handle by themselves.
Further, collaborative networks ease the administrative burden of day-to-day operations, and many call-center managers who currently operate under a unified model wonder how they ever did without it. Finally, unified telephony opens up lots of options, including consolidated staffing models, shared resources, call rollover, and more.
However, unified telephony is cost prohibitive, and may not be for everyone. Many smaller centers have a hard time absorbing increases in technology and telephony bills. Still, being part of a unified network is a great benefit, especially when applying for new contracts.
Action Item: Have a Get Together
If you are interested in learning more about unified telephony or want to where to begin, follow these steps:
• Don’t make the pitch alone. If you’re ready to suggest the idea of unified telephony to potential partners, find someone knowledgeable to help you. This could be someone high-ranking in an existing unified network or a consultant.
• Assess community needs. Communities that get the most out of unified telephony are those affected by frequent disasters. A high frequency of emergencies could open the door for funding opportunities in a unified network.
Hot Trend #4: Re-Envisioning Confidentiality
Most organizations’ privacy policies aren’t as ironclad as they think. Although I&R service providers have decades of experience in confidentiality, the game completely changed with new 2009 legislation regarding HIPAA, and many providers have failed to adapt. As such, those organizations who haven’t re-visited their privacy policies are vulnerable to devastating fines and loss of community trust.
“Most organizations’ privacy policies aren’t as ironclad as they think. Although I&R service providers have decades of experience in confidentiality, the game completely changed with new 2009 legislation regarding HIPAA, and many providers have failed to adapt. As such, those organizations who haven’t re-visited their privacy policies are vulnerable to devastating fines and loss of community trust.
The penalties for violating state and federal privacy laws are severe, even for non-profits. For example Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee was fined $9 million dollars in 2009. This is an extreme case, but the cost of cleanup as well as the damage to reputation for I&R providers that breach confidentiality can be more than enough to cause dissolution of an organization.
Action item: Get Protection from “Game Over”
• Make sure your privacy policy practices are up-to-date before you launch new initiatives. Especially if you’re mining new data sources, such as through I&R chat, you need to have your data practices looked at.
• Have a privacy expert evaluate your privacy policies in addition to legal experts. You’ll pay out less for expensive legal services this way. Also, most lawyers don’t understand how I&R centers operate, and their advice might not be actionable. Instead, have a privacy expert come in on the front-end, and the lawyers can review the work afterward.
Trend #5: Disaster Mgmt. Eco-systems
State and federal agencies have identified gaps in their abilities to handle specific types of disasters, and are forming lucrative new I&R partnerships. Two main areas where the industry is receiving funding is pandemic flu – which I&R has a long history of handling – and mass fatality, a relatively new planning component to disaster response.
There are many government officials who remember how effective I&R was in addressing the H1N1 swine flu epidemic. However, the contracts are often competitive, and are typically awarded to service providers in the best-established disaster management “eco-systems,” which include:
• Large networks of I&R providers.
• Collaborative partnerships with disaster-response agencies.
• Social media presence and digital volunteers.
• Interactive websites
Action Item: Prepare for the Best
Become aware of state and federal needs in you community. Potential contracts won’t always come to you. Often times, you’ll have to go to them, and chances are your local government will have a need that your I&R center can fill. Be sure to mention pandemic flu and mass fatality – the hot items of government planning right now.
Get a social media plan. Taking some time to develop and write out a social media strategy execution plan with goals is an inexpensive and effective way to increase your communication power.
Hot Trends in I&R – Part 1
Big changes are happening in the I&R industry – are you keeping up? Becoming familiar with trends can help I&R leaders improve their organizations and secure new contracts.
This blog post is the first of two entries that describe hot trends in I&R. To see a full list of trends, check out our white paper — 5 Hot Trends in I&R.
Hot Trend #1: Chat and Text
Text-based I&R is the fastest growing trend in I&R right now. Through text and chat, I&R service providers are landing new contracts, serving larger populations, and establishing
themselves as forward-thinking organizations.
Probably the most important benefit of text and chat is that it helps service providers remain relevant in a digital world. New media is shifting the way people communicate, and many phone-based services face obsolescence. Youths especially stay away from phone conversation, and cell phone voice-minute usage rates continue to decline overall.
However, that doesn’t mean you should leap right into chat right away. Many organizations that start up chat programs underestimate the cost. While the software and hardware can run as low as $2,000, other expenses such as training, program development, and staffing frequently go unaccounted for. On average, a chat program will cost between $40,000 to $60,000 per year to support a limited, daytime schedule. Steep, but necessary for longevity.
Action Item: Don’t Get Left Behind
To get started with a text/chat program:
• Contact AIRS. Ask about the recently completed document called Beginner’s Guide to I&R Chat. This guide is the most
comprehensive resource to-date on the subject.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you try to build a program from scratch by yourself, you’ll waste a ton of time and money.
Instead, gather research on the subject and network with individuals from organizations with a chat program already in place. Additionally, you may want to seek out I&R consultants that offer free consultations for basic chat/text questions.
Hot Trend #2: Specialized I&R
Many service providers are adding specialized I&R programs to their list of services. Specialized I&R refers to services that are more in-depth and that focus narrowly on a special need or population.
These programs are becoming very popular with I&R service providers, especially since they often come with built-in funding. Further, specialized I&R broadens resource data bases with exclusive referral destinations – such as for specialized clinicians, organizations, and services.
Examples of specialized I&R services include early childhood development programs (like Help Me Grow), chat and phone lines for veterans (like the Florida BrAIve Project), and resources for local populations. The services typically include special requirements for providers, such as specific training for specialists, technology requirements, and deeper resource-networks of professionals.
Action Item: Specialize for High Dollars
If you are interested in adopting specialized I&R programs:
• Become familiar with state and federal interests. There is a considerable amount of potential revenue attached to special interests, such as healthcare reform, disaster management, etc. If you identify an interest, be prepared to negotiate.
• Visit the Help Me Grow website. You may want to consider becoming an affiliate for the service. Visit www.helpmegrownational.org to see if there’s a fit.
• Learn about the needs of your county and surrounding counties, and develop an I&R solution. Specialized services for specific populations or regional needs (such as high-school drop-out rates, recidivism, etc.) have high success rates for
winning funding.
9 Great Reasons to go with Unified Telephony for I&R Services
When considering ways to improve I&R services, it pays to know your options. Hands-down, unified telephony for I&R is the best way to move I&R providers the next level of performance.
Unified telephony provides the following benefits to I&R service providers:
Efficiency benefits:
Benefit #1: Load-balanced calls between the centers to allow for flexible staffing and reduce waste from overstaffing. By leaning on each other, the centers can do more with less. Not to mentioned, unified networks are incredibly convenient and take away many stressors that can befall call center managers.
Benefit #2: Improved ability to forecast calls and predict scheduling requirements. Having a greater overflow capacity and access to more data makes it easier to be prepared,
Service quality benefits:
Benefit #3: Optimized georouting processes to rout callers to the appropriate centers. When call centers unite, routing tables are typically reviewed and updated, which improves service quality and provider efficiency.
Benefit #4: Updated analytical practices to get more value from data. When was the last time you tuned up your data practices?
Benefit #5: Improvement in key metrics such as answer rate and abandonment rate. Numbers don’t lie. Overwhelmingly, call center networks show improved performance.
Benefit #6: Increased ability of the network to absorb the effects of power outages through call routing. Whatever you call it – routing, triaging, overflow – you’ll be able to do it better in a network than on your own.
Unification benefits:
Benefit #7: Establishment of a universally agreed-upon routing tables for calls in split areas and out-of-state calls. Unification necessitates that all centers sit down and agree upon a routing procedure. The process only takes a few hours and is great for boosting performatnce.
Benefit #8: Balanced call-routing measures with the service needs of 2-1-1 and other programs hosted locally by the call centers. An effective unification strategy means that all centers have the flexibility to pursue their own contracts and provide their own unique services and still be able to rely on the center.
Revenue benefit:
Benefit #9: More contracts and grants. Better performance and increased capacity is leading to more contracts. In fact, many I&R service providers are reporting that clients insist upon a unified network before they’ll sign anything.
GeauxPoint is a Baton Rouge, LA-based consulting and strategy firm that specializes in I&R and crisis call center consulting, Salesforce.com consulting, and business and IT consulting. Contact us for a free 30-minute consultation for advice on how to improve the performance of your organization.