Domestic violence is not new.
But statistics show what is new is the significant increase in domestic violence fueled by isolation during the pandemic. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) found itself with a historically high contact volume – nearly double compared to before the pandemic.
The answer?
A collaboration with technology partner Genesys to help them reinvent their approach to answering calls, texts and chat messages from those needing 24/7 support.
The Hotline Is a Lifeline
In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act which enabled government-funded grants to support the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Two years later, The Hotline took its first call. Today, it receives about 3,000 of them a day.
The Hotline has worked tirelessly to transfer power back to survivors and move them toward a safer, more secure future. But when the world shut down during the 2020 pandemic, The Hotline saw a drastic spike in the number of individuals reaching out for support.
Marty Hand, vice president of technology for The Hotline was not surprised by the increase in the number of victims needing help, “Any situation that adds stress, financial strain or isolation greatly increases the risk to survivors. The pandemic had all three, and to this day, many find themselves frequently closer to the ones causing them harm.”
The Hotline knew they needed to step-up.
The challenge was how …
The Hotline — which had 92 live advocates before the start of the pandemic — knew stepping up meant not just adding more advocates to answer calls, but also addressing the process of how they answered calls, texts and chat messages.
Turning to Technology
Hand explains the challenge. “Like so many nonprofits, we have limited funding. And hiring and training new advocates was not something we could do quickly.” The Hotline relies on highly trained advocates who provide quality, trauma-informed education, validation and connection to empower survivors to make life-changing decisions with dignity and respect.
Hand wanted to see just what The Hotline could do with technology. Notes Hand, “While we were raising emergency funds to hire more advocates, we knew technology could help us increase the capacity of our organization and enable us to serve more survivors and bring down wait times.”
But speed was only one factor.
A data-backed, bird’s-eye view of the relationship between victims and abusers in during the peak of the pandemic era showed two forces at play. Explains Hand, “A critical piece of the puzzle was that many survivors were wholly cut off from seeking help. So picking up the phone and calling The Hotline was not an option for many, because they were in constant close proximity to their abusers. We set out to find a way to use technology to our advantage.”
The solution?
Work with a technology partner that could help them reinvent how they supported victims. As previously mentioned, that partner was Genesys, a global leader in cloud customer and call center solutions.
Recounts Hand, “While innovations like this are common in the for-profit world, nonprofits like The Hotline are now leveraging these innovations to deliver on their missions. Genesys is a great cultural fit for us and recognized that what we needed was radically different from what most companies do. The question became how to tailor capabilities to meet our unique needs.”
Steps to Success
The Hotline and Genesys set out to modernize The Hotline’s contact center infrastructure by focusing on how technology could increase both capacity and capabilities. First, the Genesys Cloud CX platform helped expand the capacity of The Hotline advocates.
The Genesys team immediately went to work to automate the confidential and optional collection of non-identifying demographic data and create digital and voice bots. This saves between one and two minutes per call. When you get thousands of calls every day, those minutes start to add up.
Says Hand, “Now survivors and their families can more quickly share details about their situations with anonymity. The Genesys Cloud CX platform also allows The Hotline to route to advocates more efficiently, while automatically passing along important context. Hence, advocates are better prepared to support survivors with information and resources relevant to their experiences.”
Second, the team added capabilities to allow The Hotline to deliver personalized engagement across voice and all digital channels more efficiently. “We’ve always focused on allowing survivors to reach us discreetly, which is critical for their safety. But how they reach has radically shifted beyond a phone call.”
Adds Hand, “Text and chat messages have become essential for survivors. as sending a message via a mobile device can be safer for some than making a phone call.” Last year, web chat and SMS accounted for 43% and 9% of interactions, respectively.
According to Olivier Jouve, CPO for Genesys, “The Hotline’s digital transformation is an essential reminder that customer experience technologies support diverse use cases beyond the traditional contact center.”
The Bottom Line …
The bottom line?
Says Hand, “Our partnership with Genesys is a powerful example of how nonprofits can use technology to modernize how they operate. I encourage more nonprofits — whatever their mission — to challenge the status quo and seek collaboration with technology providers.”
Read the full article here