Case Studies

When disaster strikes

The Situation

Lives often depend on a reliable source of electrical power. Hospitals, schools, and businesses of all kinds are severely impacted by power outages - even for short periods of time.

Natural disasters are a nightmare for utility companies. Their devastating effects can wipe out service to an area for weeks. Utility companies in the nation's hurricane belt, in particular, have developed elaborate back-up plans in the event that such a crippling storm occurs.

Recently, an electric utility company in the Southeast experienced its worst nightmare - a Category 4 storm that ravaged huge areas of five states.

The Plan

Fortunately, the electric company had prepared for this possibility by working with Global Response to develop an emergency plan. With it, the company was capable of responding to customer needs quickly.

An ingenious network of call centers across the country was established to handle service calls on a 24 hour per day, 7-day per week basis. Calls from the company's normal operations center were re-routed to Global Response and its partners. An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System was used to speed service to callers in potentially dangerous situations. These calls were e-mailed instantaneously back to the utility's command center for special attention.

At Global Response, caring staffers provided reassurance to many callers literally caught in the dark. The degree of knowledge and professionalism was such that customers were unaware that their calls were not being handled directly by the utility company.

The Result

The system worked so well that over 500,000 calls were handled in the two-week period after the storm. The benefits to the stranded customers were immeasurable. For the power company, its foresight and innovative planning resulted in the maintenance of public safety and security in a potentially disastrous situation.