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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