TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review

By Rich Steeves
TMCnet Managing Editor

As usual, it was a busy week in the outbound call center space. From power outages, to obesity warnings to prison call centers, the news was interesting and varied.

First up, the U.K. Ministry of Justice has showed interest in setting up an outbound call center inside a prison, with the intention of helping rehabilitate prisoners. This will allow prisons to generate money and ad the same time help keep companies from outsourcing call center jobs overseas.

One unfortunate piece of news this week indicated that studies are showing that working in a call center can contribute to obesity. Since the job involves so much sitting, call center employees are far more likely to need weight loss surgery. “Earlier, we would see around five call center employees annually, but now the number has increased drastically,” said Dr. Ramen Goel, a bariatric surgeon in New Dehli. “High stress levels trigger heavy food intake, which is often unutilized by the body due to lack of physical activity.”

On the weather front, call centers in the Philippines are finding that they must adapt to severe weather conditions. The country has been experiencing a rash of bad storms, but while there was a great deal of flooding in and around Manila last week, most call centers were unaffected, primarily due to the deployment of cloud-based contact center platforms.

Finally, the news was not as rosy in Rhode Island this week. The Ocean State’s main unemployment and temporary disability call center was shut down due to a power loss. The center had a power generator, but it was not sufficient to fully power the call center.

All in all, it was a very hectic week in the outbound call center space. Check back next week for the latest and greatest news!

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