“When the COVID-19 outbreak began, the call center we had opened at Amdocs collapsed.
It had only opened a few days prior, following a post I had read in a Raanana residents Facebook group. One of the elderly residents wrote: ‘My bank branch has been closed and I have no idea how to work their digital app. Can anyone help?’
As a member of the Raanana City Council, there was nothing I could. But I realized that my job at Amdocs provided us with an opportunity to intervene.
Within a few hours, Harel Givon, our Division President and I sent an email to all Amdocs employees, saying: ‘Amdocs is setting up a virtual hotline to support residents who have difficulty dealing with technology. Your knowledge is an asset to them. We would be happy if you would like to take part.’
We then contacted the residents through the Raanana Municipality, other local authorities, NGOs, aid organizations and the Ministry of Social Equality.
We sent 8,000 messages to all residents over the age of 65: ‘Do you have a problem connecting to Zoom or having a video call with your grandchildren? Amdocs has opened a call center to help you out.’
We weren’t expecting to receive so many reach-outs, and our hotline initially couldn’t handle the load.
But this was also a key moment for us, as Amdocs employees enlisted en masse and our Digital Friends initiative was born.
I’m old and new at Amdocs at the same time. I recently returned to high-tech after working in the social sector for years. When I first returned to the office, one of the managers approached me and asked, ‘Will you teach us about the social world? What should we do differently?’
I’m not sure he understood how seriously I took his questions.
Amdocs has always seen itself as a leader in corporate responsibility. We feel we’re frequently giving a lot back to the community: painting schools, packing food baskets, etc. There’s no doubt that all this work is truly significant.
But I’ve always asked myself: why don’t we contribute the thing we know to do best to the community? We’re a leader in the production of digital solutions – this is what we need to give back to the community.
I didn’t know where to start, but then the biggest opportunity I could have imagined arrived: COVID-19.
The first event we took part in as part of the Digital Friends initiative was Memorial Day.
Thanks to MAOZ Network member and then-General Manager of the Israel Association of Community Centers, Raz Frohlich, we realized that entire families were planning to hold this year’s commemoration ceremonies on Zoom. Their great desire to share the most precious thing of all – stories about their fallen loved ones – hit a bump in the road when it became apparent that most people lacked the necessary technological knowledge and familiarity with the required platforms. This is where we entered the picture.
Everyone who contacted our hotline received close accompaniment: 200 volunteers accompanied families throughout the process – from the scheduling stage until the end of the evening. We wanted to help families socialize with their loved ones rather than mess around with technological issues.
We received hundreds of responses from families and participants.
But the most surprising responses of all came from our own employees, who didn’t leave the calls until they had all ended.
That night, at the end of a long day, I sat on the couch and began reading the reactions of all the employees who had volunteered at the hotline.
‘Personally, this a very difficult day for me because of my experiences. But this time around, I experienced it in a moving and different way,’ one of the employees wrote me.
I couldn’t help but cry.
I realized that at a time like this, when our employees themselves faced such uncertainty, we were able to create a sense of meaning for them. They were part of the solution for thousands of people, and they drew a lot of power from the experience.
The COVID-19 crisis has shaken us all, even in the high-tech world. But for us at Amdocs, this has also been a year with a big bright spot, at the end of which we have emerged with a new understanding of the role the business sector plays in Israeli society.
We can be much more than a place of employment, and we can also contribute more than packing food baskets. We can help the community deal with technology, and we will instill this perception in our business thinking moving forward.
And the hotline? It’s still running, and you’re welcome to refer us to people who need some help. 200 Amdocs employees are waiting for them, ready to make a social change.