Call Center Operations Complicated by Robocalls

Ever wonder why the volume of automated outbound calls (a/k/a “robocalls”) has escalated so fiercely in recent years? One reason is that the technology to place hundreds of simultaneous calls has become widely available to just about anyone.

Once upon a time, auto-dialers were serious hardware. Some companies who deemed it a good investment installed auto-dialer technology for the purposes of marketing. Nowadays, the hardware is gone, and using robocall technology is as easy as signing up for a cloud-based application. In some cases, it appears ordinary citizens are putting the technology to use.

Hawaii, like many U.S. states, is having trouble keeping up with the escalated volume of calls to its unemployment centers. The state announced the launch of a new call center on October 1 to help handle the backlog of jobless claims, but the center – which isn’t yet fully staffed – is struggling to catch up. One reason is that some jobless benefits claimants are using robocall technology in an attempt to break through the busy signals.

“We are having problems with robo dialers,” Hawaii Unemployment Director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio told local news station KHNON2. “We have individuals out there who have robo-dialing systems that they either got from online or purchased somewhere. And so, I’d ask everyone to stop using their robo-dialers. It doesn’t just make it difficult for them, because there are some technicalities that work against them with those robo dialing, but it makes it difficult for every claimant who’s trying to get in.”

The DLIR says it hopes to be fully staffed by the middle of the month.

“We have 100 agents coming on by the end by the mid-month of October and those agents are actually going to work on these much more difficult adjudication issues,” Perreira-Eustaquio told KHON2. “They’re going to be able to call both parties the employer and the claimant obtain fact finding and make decisions on claims.”

Edited by Maurice Nagle