One of the constant refrains we hear from our customers at emergency call centers is that staffing is an ongoing and persistent challenge. While it is good to have validation of widely believed facts, data is not the plural of anecdote and sometimes it is good to have more formal confirmation.
This morning I came across this article, 911 dispatch centers facing national worker shortage, which hammered home the pains that PSAPs are facing with staffing. April Heinze, NENA (National Emergency Number Association) chief of 911 operations, was quoted saying “…somewhere between 20% and 35% [of emergency call centers, ECCs] nationwide…are having some sort of staffing difficulties.”
Not great news, but probably not a real surprise for anyone. It is also probably not a surprise that staffing challenges are seen as growing the in the future as well.
So, given that the workload is greater than the staff available to service it and how this problem will continue to trend in a negative direction, what can you do if you are in charge of the 911 lifeline of your community and need to get the most out of your limited staff in your PSAP (public safety answering point)?
One thing you can do, as the article suggests, is focus on retention and keeping the staff that you have. AI enhanced QA can help with that. Traditional approaches to QA in call centers rely heavily on sampling, meaning that your visibility into the performance (and mental health) of your staff as shown on calls is partial at best. With the ability to track protocol adherence and early signs of stress and trouble with your dispatchers, you have the ability to take action for your people when the often harsh realities of the job start to impact them. Better a couple days off now to decompress than losing a valued team member forever later.
Leveraging tools to help retain your PSAP staff is part of the story – doing what you can to enhance the capabilities and performance of the team in place is another part. We have only started to scratch the surface with how AI/ML will be able to help here. For example, we all know many PSAPs value highly multilingual capabilities, but finding more than three languages in a single dispatcher is not common and four is rare indeed. What if you could have real time text translation – with source language autodetection, for 100+ languages? Instant, automated translation saves valuable minutes and seconds when dealing with an emergency. It also helps empower dispatchers who would otherwise be waiting for translation services to come online.
Incidents like traffic collisions or large fires can generate large numbers of calls. What if you could use AI to triage calls, routing Samaritan reporters to humans to open an incident but using AI to handle redundant calls coming in later reporting the same incident? Again, technology helps you get more from the staff that you have and helps your staff do more useful work and accomplish more.
Learn more about how Intrado can help with these and other challenges facing the PSAP.
