First Orion Predicts Verified and Branded Calls Will be the Only Business Calls Consumers Answer by 2020

First Orion Launches Engage, Enabling Customers To Know Who Is Calling and Why Before Answering

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. February 19, 2019 – First Orion, the leading provider of call protection and call enhancement solutions, today launched its Engage™ platform to enhance the calling experience between businesses and consumers. Engage makes it easier for companies to get through to intended customers and helps customers feel secure when answering unknown calls. First Orion will be showcasing its new Engage solution at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 25-28 at Hall 2, Stand 2A31MR.  

Each year, consumers and businesses receive over 100 billion calls from known scammers and an additional 30 billion nuisance calls. In fact, First Orion’s recent analysis of over 50 billion calls to U.S. consumers predicts nearly half of all calls to mobile phones will be fraudulent this year unless the industry adopts and implements more effective call protection solutions. Due to this growing epidemic, nearly 84% of calls go unanswered, making it very challenging, if not impossible, for businesses to reach their customers. In a recent consumer poll, First Orion found that 92% of wireless consumers want to know not just who is calling them but why a number is calling.

First Orion’s Engage solution allows companies to brand their outgoing calls and display rich media graphics that are personalized for each customer and even offers additional interactions other than answering the phone call.

With Engage, companies can now provide verified details about why they are calling, ensuring that their customers are not missing important calls such as:

• Airlines: Customers requesting callbacks to reschedule flights – often times, consumers miss these call-backs because they come from unknown or unrecognized numbers
• Ridesharing: Coordinate pickup locations or let riders know about delays  – unanswered calls from rideshare drivers lead to pick-up snafus, missed fares and revenue loss for rideshare companies along with frustration and safety concerns for consumers
• Financial Services: Verify recent credit card transactions – banks have difficult choices to make when they can’t reach consumers about possible fraudulent activity
• Deliveries: Installation and arrival confirmations to avoid rescheduling – missed deliveries or “truck-rolls” can be expensive for retailers and frustrating for consumers
• Pharmacies: Inform customers when prescriptions are ready for pick up – provide customers with tools to manage their prescriptions
• Appointments/Services: Remind patients or clients about upcoming appointments
• On-demand food delivery: Drivers and customers can confirm orders in real time and update as needed

Based on internal data, First Orion estimates there are roughly 8 billion legitimate business-to-consumer calls in the United States each month. More than half of the total call volume is concentrated within four major industries, including financials, services, telecommunications and retail. These are calls consumers are expecting to receive, but in many cases do not answer due to unknown or unrecognized numbers.    

“We are all inundated with so many unwanted calls we’ve stopped answering the phone,” said Scott Ballantyne, Chief Marketing Officer and Global Head of Engage at First Orion. “With Engage, consumers will confidently answer the phone again and businesses can effectively reach their customers, saving both sides time and money. At First Orion, our goal is to have every business call to consumers verified and branded by 2020.”

Engage is now available in the United States on tens of millions of mobile handsets and works internationally in over 50 countries. First Orion plans to have Engage accessible to hundreds of millions of mobile users throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa by 2020.

First Orion is currently in the process of rolling out Engage with major brands in the telecommunications, financial services, rideshare and delivery industries. Shortly after launching Engage, early adopters have seen answer rates double.

About Engage

When businesses make a call with Engage, incoming call information is displayed directly to your customer; they’ll see enhanced caller information, rich digital and personal content, the purpose of the call, and that your originating number has been verified as safe to answer. The First Orion shield verifies your number, letting customers know you’re not a scam or spoof. First Orion’s proprietary Engage solution helps your brand have better customer interaction, quicker connections, fewer outbound calls and genuine brand loyalty. Learn more about First Orion’s Call Enhancement Suite and Engage here. To see a live demo of Engage, schedule a meeting with the First Orion at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 25-28 at Hall 2, Stand 2A31MR.  

About First Orion

First Orion powers call management and transparency solutions for T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Sky, Virgin Mobile, and Sprint Prepaid mobile networks along with PrivacyStar applications for all smartphones. First Orion currently provides call control, call blocking, call transparency and call management solutions to millions of mobile handsets. First Orion’s Engage technology tells mobile subscribers who is calling and why, empowering them with the ability to take action. With branded and white-labeled applications as well as in-network solutions, First Orion assists phone carriers in protecting mobile and fixed line subscribers by identifying and stopping millions of scam calls every day. For more information, please visit www.firstorion.com.

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PrivacyStar, First Orion and Engage™ are trademarks of First Orion Corp. All registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:

Jackie Eicholz
First Orion
831.401.3175

media@firstorion.com