Call centre helps fight cancer, abuse against women and gives jobs

Disadvantaged women who have been subjected to physical abuse are receiving training and jobs, thanks to the donation of a contact centre, initially for the Shavathon - a national awareness campaign for cancer.

The contact centre, donated by ATIO Corporation and Interactive Intelligence, enables organisations like the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) to implement awareness and fundraising drives, such as the Shavathon, Women's Day initiatives, breast cancer luncheons, etc.

These awareness drives are advertised by providing a number for the public to call, which in turn reaches the cause marketing contact centre.

Depending on the project, women from sanctuaries for abused women are employed and receive training to handle calls, faxes and e-mails, as well as basic secretarial skills. Most of the women have never worked in an office environment before. As a result of the training, five have obtained fulltime employment in other contact centres.

According to Noelene Kotschan, MD of marketing agency, Sho-Sho-Loza Marketing, the awareness drives and training for the women would not be possible without the contact centre. "Before using contact centre technology, we had a traditional switchboard system which could not cope with the call volumes for our cause marketing initiatives," she says.

"Thanks to the contact centre, we've also been able to reduce operating costs by about 40%. This is significant because it means that we can give more money to the beneficiaries."

ATIO was compelled to assist the CANSA Shavathon as the company felt that most people in the community had a personal experience of friends or family affected by cancer. ATIO approached one of its key partners, global IP communications solution provider, Interactive Intelligence, to provide the system as its commitment to corporate social investment mirrored ATIO's.

"Because it is an all-in-one solution, Interactive Intelligence's system gave the CANSA Shavathon the ability to have one platform for its contact centre and office environment, driving up productivity and reducing integration and maintenance costs," says Dawn Hollingworth, ATIO's business development and marketing director. "The system is also easy to use therefore providing an ideal environment to train agents with a low skills base."

In fact, Hollingworth says the call centre agents can be trained on the basics of the centre within half a morning. "This enables significant flexibility for all cause projects and gives the trainees a great sense of achievement," she says.

Dave Paulding, Interactive Intelligence's regional sales manager for UK and Africa, says that being involved in this project is a privilege. "We are delighted to donate our technology and expertise to support organisations doing such admirable work in the community."

Hollingworth further stated that should any other deserving cause be in need of a contact centre solution, they should contact ATIO directly.