Throw away calls

Have you succumbed to phone rage? The chances are that even the most mild mannered will have at one time or another experienced a phone call which ended in a strong temptation to throw the phone out of the window or smash it against a wall.

Thank goodness therefore for the Finns who have been running the world mobile phone throwing contest since 2000. Championship organiser Christine Lund says this is the only sport where you can “pay back all the frustrations and disappointments caused by this modern equipment” although in the spirit of greenness organisers pointed out that the contest combined the philosophy of recycling with a fun spirit.

This year’s contest was won by Finnish thrower, Ere Karjalainen, who set a new record distance of 332 ft. Prizes are not just awarded for the longest throw with a freestyle category awarded for aesthetics and throwing creativity and style. All of the phones used in the contest are recycled afterwards.

The contest does have its serious side though with its nod to the growing problem of phone rage. In fact research earlier this year suggested that call centres rank above transport delays as the most stressful daily experience encountered in the UK. Being kept on hold or being passed from one person to another are the most common causes of call centre stress.

One solution is to remove the human element from initial call centre answering. Making the most of press button options, caller recognition or key phrase recognition may be an irritant to callers but if this means that they swiftly reach someone who can help them then any irritation is fleeting. This is why it is so important to carefully plan the caller pathways into your virtual switchboard.

The Callagenix “try before you buy” option gives businesses the chance to try out the virtual switchboard and work on optimising call flow before going live. So, calls from one region might require switching to a language specialist whilst callers who are in possession of a pin code can be directed to a specific department or answerphone message. Add in call recording and storage and calls can be used for training purposes and to improve the caller experience.

Whilst the world mobile throwing championships strike a chord, with proper use of virtual switchboard pathways perhaps they will evolve and their future use will simply be of entertaining and reminding us of the recycling message.