First Orion Helps Mission-Critical Calls Get Answered During COVID-19 Pandemic

Free Programmable Caller ID Solution Enables Americans to Identify and Answer Calls from Essential Service Providers

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – April 1, 2020 – First Orion, a leading provider of communication transparency solutions, today announced U.S. Essential Service Providers are eligible to receive “Inform” Call Enhancement solution at no cost during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

“Nearly 84 percent of all calls go unanswered because people either don’t recognize or trust the caller’s identity,” said Charles Morgan, Chairman and CEO of First Orion. “During this unprecedented time, First Orion is here to help mission-critical calls get answered from hospitals, first responders, healthcare providers and others because lives are at stake and time is of the essence.”

People are trained not to answer calls from unknown numbers so essential businesses and service providers are struggling to reach customers with critical communications. Consumers are nervous, and business call volumes are spiking because of it. To deal with increasing call volume, contact centers are now relying heavily on call-back solutions, yet calls from unknown numbers still go unanswered. 

First Orion’s “Inform” programmable business caller ID solution enables businesses to correctly identify themselves to their customers when calling before they answer. This ensures critical calls are answered the first time — eliminating the phone tag cycle or important calls being missed entirely. Many organizations already using First Orion Call Enhancement solutions have seen answer rates double.

To sign up, organizations can visit www.firstorion.com/inform-covid-19 to get qualified for free activation.  No IT integration is required, and typically within hours of completing the onboarding process the organization’s name will be properly displayed on outbound calls to nearly 80M US mobile devices today, and an expected 100M devices within the next few months. 

Hospitals and healthcare providers are all excellent candidates for the service. In response to a request by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the White House, First Orion has been working with other telecom service providers, such as Telo and Somos, to support the U.S. government’s request to display caller ID instead of the telephone number for critical government-run Toll-Free hotlines, including the initial phone lines for COVID-19 test results (“Results Center”). In just the first few days, First Orion has helped deliver thousands of COVID-19 test result calls and seen answer rates increase to over 70 percent.    

First Orion’s Inform solution enables essential services to provide verified details about who is calling, ensuring that consumers are not missing important calls, such as:

•   Hospitals / Healthcare Providers: Patients need to know about test results, appointments and other critical information – and medical personnel need to be contacted with little margin for error
• Pharmacies: Customers need to know as soon as medications are ready – delays can be detrimental 
• Local, State and Federal Governments Officials and Municipal Organizations
• Non-Profit Organizations (e.g. American Red Cross) 

First Orion is offering its programmable call enhancement service for free from April 1 to May 31, 2020 to qualified Essential Service Providers. Once enrolled, an organization’s correct business name will be applied to their calling number(s) to ensure outbound calls are properly identified and consumers answer. 

To learn more and enroll today, visit www.firstorion.com/inform-covid-19

About First Orion

First Orion helps the world’s leading carriers, enterprises, and mobile apps provide mobile users with the protection they need from scams and the identity verification they need to answer trusted calls. The company’s flagship First Orion Call Protection Suite currently provides call control, blocking, transparency and management solutions to tens of millions of mobile handsets. Additionally, First Orion’s Call Enhancement Suite, Inform and Engage, tells mobile subscribers who is calling and why, empowering them with the ability to take action, while also providing businesses the ability to verify their identity when calling their customers. Nearly 84% of calls go unanswered because consumers don’t recognize the number or don’t trust the identity. With First Orion – enterprises, hospitals, government entities, non-profits, last-mile logistics, banks and more can now deliver critical communications and have their calls answered.

Processing over 90 billion calls annually, First Orion​ powers communication transparency solutions for T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Sky, Virgin Mobile and Sprint Prepaid mobile networks along with PrivacyStar and other mobile apps. Established in 2008 and led by Charles Morgan (former Founder & CEO of Acxiom), First Orion is headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas, has offices in Seattle, London, and Dubai, and employs nearly 250 people globally. More at www.firstorion.com, @FirstOrionCorp or First Orion Blog. Or contact us via phone: +1-501-358-4061

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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:

Gary Bird
First Orion
831.401.3175
media@firstorion.com