Customer engagement company Verint has announced that Canadian e-mental health service Kids Help Phone is using its Cloud Workforce Management solution to help with increased call volumes caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Kids Help Phone is targeted at young people, offering a national, 24/7 service with e-mental health and well-being support offerings. That includes bilingual counselling, clinical tools, resource referrals and crisis support services, available via phone or text.
In 2020, the service experienced 4.6 million connections, compared to 1.9 million the previous year, necessitating the hiring of 50 new counsellors and the launch of a new texting service. Kids Help Phone is also implementing Verint’s Workforce Management solution, part of its wider Customer Engagement Cloud Platform.
“We’re proud to partner with Verint to address the increased demands we’ve experienced over the past year due to the pandemic,” said Alisa Simon, SVP, Innovation & Chief Youth Officer, Kids Help Phone. “We are looking forward to gaining efficiencies by moving to Verint’s Cloud platform, which can easily scale to accommodate growth, while the WFM solution provides visibility and flexibility in scheduling our professional counsellors. Ultimately, we gain the ability to schedule the right number of people at the right time to deliver the service levels required to meet the critical needs of youth across Canada.”
Automation Through Artificial Intelligence
The solution is intended to help with forecasting and scheduling of counsellor availability, allowing Kids Help Phone to better serve young people with its existing hardware. It focuses on automation via artificial intelligence to streamline the user experience.
“Verint is pleased to provide support to Kids Help Phone,” said Verint’s Celia Fleischaker, chief marketing officer. “One of our core values and the focus of our philanthropic efforts is to support the communities in which we live and work with a special focus on projects that benefit children in need. We are honoured to play a part in supporting their counsellors and responders with workforce management solutions to improve forecasting and scheduling capabilities — all with the ease and scalability of the cloud.”
