More Federal Agencies Outsourcing their Calls

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

Turns out, it?s not just software companies, technology vendors, and delivery pizza chains that use outsourcing. Even the government is using call centers across the country to field customer service requests.

As the Washington Post pointed out in a story over the weekend, concerned citizens who were affected by the recent theft of a VA Department laptop containing personal data on millions of veterans had their calls answered by call centers in North Hollywood, CA; Lock Haven, PA; and Sergeant Bluff, IA.

Outsourcing government calls ensures that everyone calling in gets an answers, and frees up more direct staff to attend to whatever issue might be at hand ? whether it?s a data breach or something as serious as a natural disaster.

“The trend seems to be leaning more this way,” said Martha Dorris, deputy associate administrator of the General Service Administration’s Office of Citizen Services, which arranges emergency call center contracts with private firms for agencies. “We’ve got everything basically in a template so that we can work with them quickly so they can get [a toll-free line] up as quickly as possible.”