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December 2008 | Volume 27 / Number 7
On The Line

Political Prescription

By Tim Searcy

As I write this column, we are just coming up on the election. What is going to happen? Who is going to win? For teleservices, without a doubt the outcome is already determined… more attempted regulation. I feel obligated to give the incoming freshmen of Congress as well as the historical hacks a bit of advice for how to handle our industry from their lofty perches of power. I believe that the advice medical schools have been giving new physicians for over one hundred years is probably a good guideline: listen, do no harm, and help. I address these three points as an open set of advice to my old and new friends in Washington.

Number One: Listen

As a politician, you have an unbelievable number of special interests, constituents and single issue advocates parading into your office every day. It is almost mind numbing to sit in your offices and watch the conga line of petitions that vie for your time. However, teleservices is rather unique, and our group of interested parties is fairly diverse:

Consumers — yes, we represent the consumer, and we are seeking the best balance of their interests and the interests of legitimate business. As you listen to concerns about technology, customer service, and offshore representatives, please temper your opinion with the benefits the consumer has received from less restricted teleservices. The near and real monopolies of telecom, credit cards, network television and hundreds of others were broken by the leveling of the playing field of competition through inexpensive access to the effective medium of the telephone.

Employees – The industry employs 5.3 million contact center personnel in the United States. Each time new regulation is contemplated, the unintended consequence has been a reduction in jobs. This is a universal axiom. Regulations create expense, and to address the expense, organizations move jobs overseas to lower labor costs or to automated solutions, which take the human being out of the customer interaction. Every district in every state has one or more contact centers employing the hard to employ single mother, college student, retiree, veteran or handicapped individual. The ripples of additional regulation crash upon the shores of these people’s reality of trying to pay bills and make ends meet.

Businesses – There are over 56,000 contact centers in the United States with at least 20 representatives employed per center. The lion’s share of these businesses would be considered small business. These companies are a source of employment and an engine for an embattled economy. Although the profit motive is alive and well in our industry, our first goal is survival.

American Teleservices Association (ATA) – We are the only trade association dedicated exclusively to the teleservices industry. As the voice of the industry, we work to balance the interests of all constituents… much like you do. We would like to be your partner in this process. We will help you understand the business, the issues, and we can be a voice of assistance to get your more valuable legislative agenda out into the marketplace.

Number Two: Do No Harm




Now you might think that we think all regulation is bad. Nothing could be further from the truth. We desperately want you to add more funding to the prosecution and enforcement of U.S. fraud laws. The telephone is not fraudulent by its nature, but fraud is perpetrated using the phone. We want fraud to stop so that legitimate businesses can do business. Additionally, there is an economic penalty to the best in our industry if they cover the costs of compliance only to watch someone else go unhindered in business without being compliant. The consumer does need protection, and we would like to help you create the balance that we so adamantly request. For this reason, the ATA has created a self regulatory organization (SRO) which audits and provides accreditation to firms that can demonstrate through audit that they are capable of

complete compliance with federal and state law. We are here as your partner, and we are working with the FTC and FCC as well as state law enforcement to make the standards of the ATA-SRO stronger and an active part of the remediation process.



Number Three: Help

We need your help. We are faced with more state regulations than you can imagine. The cost of a firm complying with the patchwork of regulations between state and federal has been estimated to be at least $200,000 for the average firm. However, if we only had to comply with a single set of federal regulations, the cost would only be approximately $20,000. This is not a small amount of money or confusion. Additionally, we have petitions before the FCC to request that the agency declare its exclusive jurisdiction over interstate calling. Please help us in this effort by asking the FCC to address this longstanding petition and make jurisdiction clear and federal.

As Congressmen, I do not envy your position. However, we can help you. Please let us. Get to know us. Take our calls, visit our centers, and understand our issues. We are prepared to be your allies. If I can be of assistance or if you need more information, contact me at [email protected]. Thank you.

Tim Searcy serves as the CEO of the American Teleservices Association (ATA).

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