I take no great pleasure in writing this blog but as one of the co-founders of an emerging nearshore call center in Tijuana, Mexico. I want to share my thoughts with friends and colleagues in the contact center community.

As we all look to fortify our contact centers against the coronavirus and ensure the health of our agents, I would like to share what Redial BPO has done in its Tijuana call center operations.

To be clear, what I will outline here are the steps that we believe are essential in preserving business continuity and driving long-term consumer satisfaction for our growing base of clients.   

When the seriousness of the coronavirus became apparent, Redial BPO knew that we needed to take swift action. First, among the most important things that our leadership team decided was to make sure that our business continuity plan was as rock-solid and as relevant as it could be in the face of the current pandemic. This, alongside how best to deal with natural disasters, public security disruptions, and utility failures, Redial BPO added an element that considers seamless management through health care crises.

This plan is now in action. Some of the most important elements include the following:

• We upgraded our PCI/HIPAA compliance and can help our clients with even more complex tasks, as the coronavirus means shifting growing volumes of work to our Baja call center.
• As a means of reducing the chance of infection, Redial BPO has doubled the number of hand sanitizer stations throughout its Tijuana call center.
• We have also ensured that we have a long-term supply of sanitizer on hand, should this crisis become drawn out;
• Redial BPO has posted on its internal intranet best practices for hand washing and good hygiene and also posted posters in bathrooms and common areas. 
• Cleaning has taken on a new level at our Tijuana call center. In fact, Redial BPO has increased the frequency of cleaning in our operations, with all hotspots such as door handles and biometric sensors disinfected every 30 minutes;
• Agents are no longer permitted to share headsets with each other or with supervisors. At the end of each shift, all headsets are disinfected. 
• Redial BPO has engaged the services of a fully licensed medical doctor, who is verifying the vital signs of agents prior to them entering the floor of its Tijuana call center as a way of identifying anyone who may need to be tested for the coronavirus.  
• Redial BPO has informed its agents that if they are not feeling well or showing any coronavirus symptoms, they are to leave for testing immediately. They will be paid until the end of that working day.

These are just some of the ways that Redial BPO is driving business continuity for our clients. We cannot pretend that this virus is simply a flash in the pan that will go away. 

Everyone needs to do their part, and working to have the most sanitary nearshore call center facilities in the Baja region is just one way of going about it.  

The only way to stop the spread of coronavirus is for call centers in each part of the nearshore and the rest of the world to find the most thorough methods to keep operations clean and agents safe.

When this crisis is over, I expect that more call centers, whether outsourced or in-house, will be updating their business continuity plans to reflect on how to deal with a pandemic. In the meantime, I share what Redial BPO has been doing, hopefully to the benefit of anyone who is interested. 

I welcome your thoughts and questions. We are all in this together, ready to get started?

Cynthia