Success Story, LAHELPU
CSI Impact: IVR applications, deployed within 6 hours of request, help hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims get critical and timely assistance.
Summary
- Massive IVR application available in hours to help Katrina victims receive much needed information and assistance.
- Extremely high call volumes easily supported by CSI scalable and widely available platform.
- Integration to live agents ensures that individuals would receive the personalized care they needed.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, the States of Louisiana and Mississippi needed to quickly implement an awareness and information system for its citizens. This disaster generated extremely high call volume from people in desperate need of critical information. In a very short time, amidst a lot of confusion, the states asked CSI to set up an IVR system that would help displaced people know what resources were available to them. The incredibly short time it took the applications to be available proved why shared IVR services are the standard way that companies and state agencies automate their contact centers, as compared to purchasing and having to set up their own equipment.
State of Louisiana
CSI delivered an emergency solution for the State of Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Most of the telecommunications infrastructure in the state was decimated for weeks. Access to critical state, federal, and non-profit organizations could not be obtained directly via the usual published numbers. CSI deployed an IVR within 6 hours of receiving the request from our BPO partner. The IVR screened the tens of thousands of calls that were received daily and directed callers to the appropriate state and federal agencies for support.
The access number 888-LAHELPU was advertised in the media and via the state's website as a single point to reach critical assistance via a single number. Over the next two weeks the application was enhanced to provide information on available services and automatically route the callers to the proper destination. Citizens affected by the devastation were able to access a wide array of services including; food stamps, FEMA information, unemployment insurance, and Social Security services. The application provided assistance to over 350,000 callers in the first 3 months of operation.
Since its initial use for emergency response services, the LAHELPU line has been enhanced to support other services such as Earned Income Tax Credit information and Office Locator services and Family Services Registration process support.
State of Mississippi
Hurricane Katrina produced another event that drove unexpected call activity in a short period of time. The State of Mississippi, also severely impacted by the storm, provided debit cards to citizens that were pre-loaded with funds for emergency assistance. Families affected by the storm were able to use the cards to obtain food and supplies to tide them over until they could return to their homes and jobs.
CSI provided an IVR solution to assist Mississippi residents with management of their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards. The existing IVR application typically handled 25,000 to 30,000 calls per day prior to the emergency. The immediate distribution of hundreds of thousands of debit cards generated an unexpected call volume that far exceeded the normal daily traffic. In one day after the cards were released, the IVR handled over 120,000 calls; 400 percent of a normal traffic day. Because the CSI platform provides scalable, on-demand capacity, the IVR was able to process every call without playing a busy signal; every cardholder who called in was able to establish Personal IDs for their cards so they could use them to buy much needed groceries and other supplies. |
