Unfortunately, times of crisis are not new to our planet. While we’ve never seen the scale of disruption we’re experiencing now, other events have prepared us for moments like this. As people – regardless of where we live – we’ve probably all experienced natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes. In fact, now living in Florida, I know all too well how frequently hurricanes threaten the American southeast and force evacuations throughout our spring and summer months each and every year. Or the flooding earlier this year in Brazil – causing business shutdowns and remote work for some teams even before COVID.

So, overcoming adversity and ensuring operational continuity is not new to us at TP. In fact, that’s why only Teleperformance was capable of shifting over 220,000 active employees to work-at-home during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. We’ve used remote work to prevent operational disruptions many times before.

While we’d all prefer to be optimistic and believe that we’ve turned a corner in the fight against COVID, I want to caution that it’s far from over for our governments and healthcare providers. With contact tracing still essential, and a number of vaccines on the horizon, there is still much yet to be done.

I know this because TP has not only mitigated all types of business disruption for over four decades, but we’ve also spent many years supporting both national and local governments, as well as all types of healthcare organizations. We understand the intricacies and sensitivities around patient care and citizen support. These are highly regulated segments requiring extensive security protocols, which we understand well and take very seriously.

But beyond the technology and security measures, we also understand that there are humans on the other end of the phone line or device screen. Whether it’s a citizen needing repatriation or a concerned patient seeking medical care, receiving empathetic and effective support can be nothing short of life-saving.

That’s why I’ve made this COVID fight personal. I have aligned all necessary Teleperformance resources to offer COVID-19-specific services to quickly address healthcare and government support needs. With governments experiencing sudden and dramatic support requirements – like the Centers for Disease Control outlining a need for anywhere between 30,000 and 100,000 contact tracers in the US alone – staffing and operations will be a challenge for these organizations without external assistance. Much like how medical providers will soon need to oversee the administration of millions, if not billions, of vaccines.