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Dictaphone's ContactPoint Gaining Traction in Public Safety.


STRATFORD, Conn. -- Adams County Adams County is the name of twelve counties in the United States. Most of them are named either for John Adams, second President of the United States, or for his son, John Quincy Adams, sixth President.  Communications Center An agency charged with the responsibility for handling and controlling communications traffic. The center normally includes message center, transmitting, and receiving facilities. Also called COMCEN. See also telecommunications center.  Invests in ContactPoint(TM) Software To Improve Training And Quality Assurance

Dictaphone Corporation's Communications Recording Systems (CRS CRS Course
CRS Certified Residential Specialist (real estate certification)
CRS Central Reservation System
CRS Can't Remember Stuff (polite form)
CRS Cost Reduction Strategy
CRS Consumer Relations Specialist
(TM)) group, a leading provider of recording systems for 9-1-1 centers and other public safety operations, today announced that it will provide its ContactPoint(TM) Workforce Relationship Management(TM) solution to one of its long-time customers, the Adams County Communication Center (also known as Adcom 911). The Commerce City, CO.-based Adcom 911 Center serves a population of approximately 375,000 citizens in the northeast metropolitan area of Denver, and provides 9-1-1 and emergency radio communications services to 15 agencies including police departments, fire departments and EMS operations.

Adcom 911 and other emergency communications centers An Emergency Communications Center, or ECC, is the nerve center of an area's emergency services. Resources in the field communicate, often via radio, mobile data terminal, or mobile phone, to dispatchers who then effectively manage the emergency resources for the area.  around the country recognize the importance of having qualified and properly trained dispatchers on the front lines handling calls. Dictaphone's ContactPoint solution was designed with this exact purpose in mind. ContactPoint's unique competency COMPETENCY, evidence. The legal fitness or ability of a witness to be heard on the trial of a cause. This term is also applied to written or other evidence which may be legally given on such trial, as, depositions, letters, account-books, and the like.
     2.
 model enables 9-1-1 centers to specify and capture the critical skills, knowledge and abilities that dispatchers require for effective call handling, and then systematically apply these benchmarks to their hiring, training and quality assurance (QA) programs. Call-takers and dispatchers are pre-screened based upon core competencies A core competency is something that a firm can do well and that meets the following three conditions specified by Hamel and Prahalad (1990):
  1. It provides customer benefits
  2. It is hard for competitors to imitate
  3. It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.
 required for the position. Each dispatcher's call handling techniques are routinely assessed after they are hired, and e-learning modules are administered to address any competency gaps identified through the ongoing QA process.

With its recent investment in ContactPoint and upgrade to Dictaphone's Freedom(R) Enterprise recording platform, Adcom 911 hopes to improve the effectiveness of its training and quality assurance programs, reduce the administrative workload involved in managing these programs, and improve its overall quality of service. Each year, Adcom 911's 59 full and part-time dispatchers handle close to 200,000 9-1-1 calls and provide EMD EMD Electromechanical dissociation, see there  (Emergency Medical Dispatch) services to thousands of 9-1-1 callers. The center relies on training and quality assurance to ensure that dispatchers are handling EMD calls properly, but to date, these initiatives have been paper-based. Dispatchers must complete up to a dozen paper-based continuing education continuing education: see adult education.
continuing education
 or adult education

Any form of learning provided for adults. In the U.S. the University of Wisconsin was the first academic institution to offer such programs (1904).
 training modules each year to remain EMD-certified. Training and testing is self-administered in paper-based packets and test scores are manually tracked in spreadsheets. Currently, Adcom 911's QA program is also paper-based with supervisors completing hundreds of written assessment forms each month. Standards vary from supervisor to supervisor and the results are not tracked electronically.

Adcom 911 will use ContactPoint to complete competency-based assessments on-line, deliver targeted training modules and tests directly to dispatchers' desktops, automatically track post-training test scores and assessment results, and produce reports to more easily quantify Quantify - A performance analysis tool from Pure Software.  and isolate problems.

"In the past, we might have suspected that we had some problem areas but we wouldn't have had any way to quantify it," said Alan Campbell Alan Campbell may be:
  • Alan Campbell (1904-1963) married to Dorothy Parker
  • Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway (born 1917), British judge and life peer
  • Sir Alan Campbell (diplomat) (1919-2007), British Ambassador to Ethiopia and Italy
, deputy director of Adcom 911. "With ContactPoint we'll have insight into what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong and we'll be able to push out e-learning modules to our dispatchers to correct any weaknesses right away."

ContactPoint will also make assessments and recordings more readily available to dispatchers through its InfoCenter capability. "With our current paper-based system, the workload prohibits supervisors from reviewing with every dispatcher Software that determines what pending tasks should be done next and assigns the available resources to accomplish it. It may execute other programs or generate a list for human operators to follow. See scheduler.  every call that has been assessed," added Campbell. "With ContactPoint, once the assessment is done, the dispatcher will be able to review it and listen to the call." Campbell also expects that the migration from paper-based processes to an automated system will significantly reduce the workload in managing and administering Adcom 911's training and QA programs.

About Dictaphone Corporation's Communications Recording Systems (CRS)(TM) Group

With thousands of installed customers worldwide, Dictaphone Corporation's Communications Recording Systems (CRS(TM)) group is a leading provider of recording systems and Workforce Relationship Management(TM) solutions for 9-1-1 centers and other mission-critical operations. Dictaphone's Freedom recording system provides a flexible, all-in-one solution for full-time recording of mission-critical 9-1-1 and radio communications. Freedom accommodates traditional circuit-switched telephony networks, VoIP, conventional and trunked radio, and hybrid environments. Freedom also offers one of the world's most advanced phonetic pho·net·ic
adj.
1. Of or relating to phonetics.

2. Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound.
 search engines; a one-of-a-kind feature for authenticating voice recordings; integration with PBXs and ANI/ALI controllers; call archiving to network-attached storage See NAS.  devices; and secure access to recordings from any network-connected PC.

Dictaphone's ContactPoint solution for Workforce Relationship Management optimizes dispatcher performance by helping emergency communications centers hire and retain the best call-takers and dispatchers, assess them fairly and consistently, and empower empower verb To encourage or provide a person with the means or information to become involved in solving his/her own problems  them with the right training and rewards. The centerpiece of ContactPoint is a competency model that enables the creation of job profiles that outline the skills, knowledge and abilities that call-takers and dispatchers require for effective call handling. Once identified, these competencies can then be systematically applied to the emergency communications center's hiring, training, and assessment programs using ContactPoint, to increase dispatcher effectiveness and improve customer service. ContactPoint is comprised of three software modules: Recruiter (a hiring management application), Trainer (a learning management system) and Assessor (an assessment tool). All three modules are linked together through the competency model.

The ContactPoint solution was designed to work in combination with Dictaphone's Freedom Enterprise recording system. Freedom Enterprise provides all of the benefits of the Freedom platform with the addition of a centralized cen·tral·ize  
v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es

v.tr.
1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate.

2.
 SQL SQL
 in full Structured Query Language.

Computer programming language used for retrieving records or parts of records in databases and performing various calculations before displaying the results.
 call records database for capturing call details, and the ability to capture and store dispatcher desktop screen activity along with voice recordings. For more information, call 1-800-886-4908, or visit www.dictaphone.com.

Safe Harbor Safe Harbor

1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated.

2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive.
 Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements forward-looking statement

A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections.
 within the meaning of Section 21(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on Dictaphone Corporation's current expectations and estimates as to prospective events and circumstances that may or may not be in Dictaphone Corporation's control and as to which there can be no firm assurances given.

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and there can be no assurance that any of these forward-looking statements may prove to be correct and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad, the ability to complete and deliver products and services within currently estimated time frames and budgets, the ability to effectively manage diverse and geographically dispersed dis·perse  
v. dis·persed, dis·pers·ing, dis·pers·es

v.tr.
1.
a. To drive off or scatter in different directions: The police dispersed the crowd.

b.
 operations, difficulties with integrating product plans, schedules and resources, potential that the information and estimates used to predict future performance were not accurate, market acceptance of Dictaphone Corporation's products, competitive products, pricing pressures, and other risks. Dictaphone Corporation disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Dictaphone(R), Freedom(R), Communication Recording Systems(TM), CRS(TM), ContactPoint(TM) and Workforce Relationship Management(TM) are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Dictaphone Corporation. Other products or marks referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Dictaphone Corporation's Freedom(R) recording system is the subject of U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications.

(C) Copyright 2004 Dictaphone Corporation, all rights reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2004, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Nov 18, 2004
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