Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

BBC News 24 identifies National Blood Service as complying with Ofcom

Press release dated 10th November, 2006 MM Teleperformance

BBC News 24 report identify the National Blood Service, managed by outsourcer MM Teleperformance, as the only contact centre they could find following Ofcoms rules on outbound calling.

Last year the BBC’s report on silent calls led to the industry watchdog, Ofcom, promising to take action. One year on, on the 30th October, 2006 BBC News 24 reported on what has actually changed.

They stated that Ofcom had looked into stopping silent calls with fines going up to £50,000 and instead of silence, call centres are meant to leave a recorded message.

The news item reported that the BBC had been able to identify only one call centre following Ofcoms rules which was the National Blood Service, run by MM Teleperformance, one of the UK’s largest contact centre operators.

“The National Blood Service is the only call centre we could find now following Ofcoms rules” stated BBC reporter, Graham Satchell.

MM Teleperformance has a nationwide network of contact centres and works with clients from both the public sector and private sector.

MM Teleperformance was the 1st contact centre operator to comply with both Ofcom and the recently revised DMA guidelines regarding outbound calling and last year invested £4million in upgrading their technology systems and supporting infrastructure to ensure full compliance. The upgrade, through Azzurri Communications using a Call Media predictive dialler, allows the client to leave a specific CLI (caller line identification) per campaign and also enables the client to leave a tailored message specific to the nature of the call.

In the case of National Blood Service, donors are greeted with “Hello, This is a recorded message on behalf of the National Blood Service. One of our call agents tried this number but was unable to talk to you, we have recently written to ask if you would consider giving blood in the near future. Blood stocks are significantly below normal levels at present and we are hoping that you might be able take this opportunity to donate ensuring your blood is available to hospitals to help save and improve patients lives. If you would like to find out more about local donation sessions, if you would like to book an appointment or if you have any questions what so ever about blood donation please call us on 0845 7 711 711 you can also visit us at blood.co.uk Thank you.”

Ian Levett, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MM Teleperformance, commented:

“We have made a significant investment, and will continue to do so, in making sure we are doing all we can to comply with industry regulations and to demonstrate our commitment to providing excellent customer contact solutions. We hope all users of predictive diallers will quickly align themselves to be fully compliant to stop the negative impact that this is having on our industry.

The National Blood Service is a good example of a campaign not only following best practice but also hugely successful in achieving their objective of significantly increasing blood donations year on year.

In the UK 1.65 million donors have registered on the blood donation database. The CRM outbound calling programme has helped to achieve this.”

Notes to editor:-

•Full footage of the BBC news 24 item ran on 30th October is available on DVD from TSA PR tina@tinastanleyassoc.com or call Tina Stanley 01491 410250. For more info please call TSA PR.

•Photograph of Ian Levett, Chief Operating Officer (COO) MM Teleperformance available.

•MM Teleperformance is the UK’s 3rd largest contact centre outsourcer in the UK and part of Teleperformance, the worlds 2nd largest contact centre and CRM provider.

•DMA guidelines can be found by visiting www.dma-org.uk

•Ofcom regulations can be found by visiting www.ofcom.co.uk