When Information and Resource needs arise, such as help with food, housing, employment, health care, counseling, disaster relief, etc., community members can dial 2-1-1 to gain guidance and help in most communities nationwide. There are a number of non-profit 2-1-1 organizations across the country that help their communities in times of need. These organizations are typically the first place people turn when there is a disaster – such as flooding, snow storms, tornados, etc., yet the people who work in the local centers are just as impacted by the disasters as everyone else.
As a result, most of the 2-1-1 centers have built partnerships with geographically distant organizations that can assist or take over calls in the event of an emergency. I’ve had the pleasure of working with our 2-1-1 NICE CXone customers for the past two years and have seen how nimble and responsive these companies can be when their community needs them.
NICE has released a new Percent Allocation Tool that creates a more efficient system to forward a specific percent of calls to any number of partnering communities across the country in the event of an emergency.
This tool allows any contact center to deliver calls by percentage between sites or by skill. During disaster response, this tool will enable a 2-1-1 that cannot take calls due to a local emergency to send calls to their partner 2-1-1 center or centers for assistance. In the event that the area needing assistance is larger than one small center can handle, calls can be delivered by percentage to multiple centers. This new tool allows quick connectivity when needed. It is a well-known fact that planning ahead for any unforeseen event is the best way to handle any emergency situation. This new tool provides quick and easy resolution for reaching out for immediate help.
