PLDT further builds on its role as a strategic communications partner for government, agencies, and businesses, equipping organizations with critical contact center solutions to service the concerns and needs of their most important stakeholders - their constituents and customers.
Introduced 12 years ago through its B2B unit PLDT Enterprise, PLDT's Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is an easily deployable solution for its cloud-based design which delivers critical and secure communication lines to service and address concerns of callers, when going out or travelling is discouraged.
A very significant solution, particularly in this pandemic, PLDT has aided national and local government units, agencies, and businesses in organizing a central communication line for all citizens including the country's leading agency for reliable and accurate information on COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH).
“Last year, I was on my wits end, how can I possibly have 40 call center agents because at that time in March, as there was a huge demand for information regarding COVID-19 and behold to the rescue the PLDT Group - PLDT, ePLDT and Smart Communications. Of course I had to collaborate with DILG, thanks to them we have established the DOH COVID-19 hotline. Up to this day PLDT has nurtured us and we believe that this partnership will go on,” shared DOH Assistant Secretary Dr. Enrique Tayag.
“And thanks to them too we were able to create a platform for telemedicine services that has now become routine in local government units, in the private sector. I can not imagine that without PLDT there is no hotline. Thank you so much, mabuhay po kayo!,” he added
The DOH COVID-19 Hotline call center (1555 and 894-COVID) is a collaboration between the DOH, DlLG-911 and the PLDT Group in addressing the need to provide information on the government's pandemic response and services related to COVID-19. Providing the service for free, the project was one of the early efforts of the PLDT in helping the government in their initiatives to manage the spread of the virus and augment the information campaign of the lead agencies.
Since it was implemented in March of last year, the hotline has accommodated over 181,400 calls and processed over 385,000 calls through the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature of the hotline.
It expanded its service to feature telemedicine, catering to calls requiring advanced triaging and medical consultations for symptomatic patients. Teleconsultations through the hotline were initially manned by doctors from the DOH central office, and shortly after volunteers poured in from the members of Asian Medical Students Association (AMSA), Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) and the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC). Over 3,000 teleconsultations have been conducted with 1,200 ePrescriptions issued to patients.
“Going out raises the risk of people of getting exposed to the virus in this pandemic, so having a reliable contact center really proves helpful for agencies to address concerns of their customers in the safety of their homes,” said PLDT VP and Head of Enterprise Fixed Core Business Solutions.
Primarily a solution to augment after-sales and customer assistance for enterprises, CCaaS has seen tremendous potential in other socio-civic efforts of various LGUs and organizations. Other agencies that have deployed CCaaS in their operations were the City of Valenzuela as well as the implementation of the national central security hotline for emergencies with the 911.
The CCaaS solution is part of the PLDT Group’s portfolio of enterprise-grade Cloud solutions that complement business operations whether in office or in remote working set ups. Enabling these services is PLDT's fiber infrastructure, which is at 513,000 kilometers - the most extensive in the country and the fastest local fixed and mobile internet networks based on tests by leading telco provider analysts Ookla and OpenSignal.