Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
California's Outdated 911 Call Centers Slated for an Update
California may be one of the most mobile, technologically savvy states in the U.S., but when it comes to its 911 infrastructure, the state is woefully antiquated. California’s hundreds of 911 emergency centers still use outdated analog telephony systems that predate the Internet, which means they fail to take advantage of mobile GPS and other technologies that have arrived in the age of smartphones. In other words, pizza delivery and Uber drivers have access to more technology in California than 911 workers.
Thankfully, 911 call centers will be updated according to Governor Gavin Newsom, who toured a call center in San Francisco earlier this month. The Governor said new bipartisan legislation is in the works, designed to bring technology updates to California’s hundreds of call centers. The move is part of a close to $1 billion initiative in the state’s 2019 budget to update its entire emergency response system and ensure California is better prepared to mitigate disaster.
“The idea that it’s 2019 and we are using analog systems designed decades ago is astounding,” said Newsom. “We need to make investments to make sure the technology aligns with the devices people are using in their daily lives. They don’t have the tools to connect. They don’t have the capacity to redirect call volume if something goes wrong.”
Scheduling at CA’s (News - Alert) centers is particularly challenging as phone lines can become easily overwhelmed during disasters or when power outages happen. Redirecting calls or scheduling more support during those times involves using antiquated systems that can waste time and lives. In fact, the state’s Office of Emergency Services claims that shaving one minute from average emergency response times could save as many as 10,000 lives a year.
Yet California’s 911 call centers have been plagued by problems, with the state experiencing an average of 13 outages a month last year. Last March, parts of the 911 call center network were down for more than an hour. Those outages highlight the importance of having proper technology in place to handle fluctuating call volumes, disasters and proper scheduling.
California isn’t alone in experiencing 911 call center technology issues, with Fort Wayne, Indiana experiencing a historic outage earlier this year that forced callers to dial a non-emergency number. And a CenturyLink (News - Alert) data center outage last December impacted cellular 911 calls in seven states, forcing them to push out emergency alerts with alternative numbers.
California’s technology updates will enable its 911 call centers to connect to each other digitally, as well as transfer and redirect calls. Callers should also be able to connect with dispatchers within three seconds of dialing using the new system. That digital connectivity will also be useful when it comes to scheduling and being able to intelligently predict call volumes during certain events or weather-related situations. Officials are aiming to get the new system up and running by December of 2022, according to Newsom.
Edited by Maurice Nagle