BPO company to help City set up crisis center

Monday, February 13, 2012

CEBU City will have its own 911 or rescue hotline soon, Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday.

The mayor recently met with representatives from a business process outsourcing company, which will provide the centralized command center at no cost to the City Government.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Victor Caindec, chief operating officer of Northernworx, a company based in Cebu but that also operates in the United States, said they will provide an integrated emergency communication platform for City Hall “that will be similar to the 911 platform.”

This will help the city respond to disasters, emergencies and even calls for better service—like attending to uncollected garbage—more efficiently.

Tested in Sinulog

Caindec, in an interview, explained that an emergency call will be received by their company’s FirsAide, a business unit of Northernworx that responds to emergency calls.

Details of the emergency will be recorded by agents of their contact center. The information will then be sent to concerned offices of the City and other agencies, including the Cebu City Police Office, the City Traffic Operations Management and the Bureau of Fire Protection.

“We have guidelines to determine if it’s a prank call or not,” Caindec said.

Their system, he added, was tested during the Sinulog 2012 celebration, when they assisted the quick response team of Barangay Basak Pardo in responding to emergencies.

According to its website, the company began operating in 2001 as a medical transcription facility.

Caindec said the centralized command center they will be providing will be at no cost to the City, as it will be part of their corporate social responsibility.

But Caindec said the company also hopes they can attract business enterprises to tap their services.

“It will not be free already. We also want to bring our service to a wide range of clients, not only in Cebu City but the entire Cebu,” he said.

Asked when the centralized command center of the City will be in place, Caindec said they hope to fully operate it by March.

The need for the City to have a command center became more urgent following the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the city last Monday, when some people panicked in reaction to rumors that were circulating about a tsunami.