Teesside-based Lemon Contact Centre has won a contract to support a hi-tech ‘guardian angel’ personal safety app that helps keep people safe.
help me Angela supports, advises, and reassures people as they go about their daily lives whether at home, travelling, or at work.
Lemon is providing a team of ‘Personal Safety Specialists’, who are available around the clock and can be contacted at the touch of a button on a mobile device if someone is feeling scared, afraid, or vulnerable.
The Personal Safety Specialists have received intensive training from the experts at help me Angela, who include former police officers, to be able to deal with their members at first point of contact regardless of the situation.
The help me Angela app is designed for when someone feels unsafe or afraid, such as when they are walking home. Members have the option to generate a ‘Help Request’, at which time a Personal Safety Specialist will try to contact them immediately enabling them to feel safer. Alternatively, users can activate a ‘Follow Me’, whereby a Personal Safety Specialist will ‘join’ them on their journey, so they are not alone.
Lemon has won the work because of its track record in handling sensitive and emotionally complex calls. Its contact agents do not use robotic call scripts and are trained to have real conversations where the emphasis is on listening and empathy.
Martin Anderson, Lemon’s chief executive, said: “The mission help me Angela is on – to make everyone feel safe – is such a great cause. We’re pleased to be part of it and help keep its users out of harm’s way.”
He added: “Lemon’s sympathetic approach to call handing is critical to delivering this contract.
“Our ability to have active listening and empathy is really important because people will be contacting us when they feel they are at their most vulnerable.
“We have vast experience in this as we already deal having supported businesses in the care and funeral sectors for many years.
“And even in the engineering sector, such as when people are stuck in lifts – if they call you at that time, they need to speak to someone, they need to be reassured, they need to feel that someone’s going to be there to help and support them and get them out of the situation.”
Sarah Adderley, a director at help me Angela and former police officer, said: “We have appointed Lemon because of its outstanding ability to handle calls in a person-centred, individual, empathetic manner”.
“The sort of support we need to offer means it cannot be operated by a ‘one-size-fits-all’ type call centre.”
She added: “We believe feeling safe isn’t a privilege, it’s your right”.
“We have developed leading edge safety technology that enables our members to connect immediately to a Personal Safety Specialist should they require reassurance or help.
“Our app is like having a guardian angel in the palm of your hand, who is ready to provide 24/7 immediate and real-time assistance”.
“The app is aimed at everyone to make them feel safer, whether walking home alone, on a journey, or as part of their everyday lives. We don’t track people at all times and will only know a member’s location when they want us to”.
Lemon, which is based at Lockheed Court, Preston Farm Business Park, Stockton, was established in 2003.