We are excited about the “Salvation at the Call Center” article on Televerde in the July 28 issue of Forbes. We’re not accustomed to publicity at Televerde. We’re just now starting to carefully and selectively toot our own horn and allowing others to say positive things about us after doing the due diligence (see SiriusDecisions’ profile on Televerde). While all of us and many of our clients are uber-passionate about our business model and the results we produce, we’re understandably a bit sensitive about what others may think about us. But since we have nothing to hide, perhaps we should be less cautious. After all, we’re transparent with our clients so why not the general public? 

The journalist, Victoria Barret, blew the door wide open to who and what we are. And we like it!  No, it wasn’t a puff piece and no, it wasn’t all favorable. But what real reporting is?  Do you trust an article or television news piece that gushes about its subject?  No way. It doesn’t ring true. Forbes (via Victoria) scrutinized us every which way, going behind the scenes at our “inside the walls” call center operations, talking to our workforce and several clients. The result? An almost 360-degree view of what makes Televerde tick within the confines of a three-page article. 

The article has sparked a robust and relevant dialogue among our strong and supportive base of high-tech clients, industry watchers and others, many of whom congratulated us on officially “coming out” and allowing a larger segment of the business world to see what they are experiencing from their own engagement with us – an alternative, socially responsible way of doing business that creates direct and measurable benefits for society by positively affecting the lives of a disenfranchised group of women. 

Without question, our business model’s all-around economic benefits are enormous. At an average annual cost of $22,650 to house an inmate, we save the State of Arizona and its taxpayers over $20 million annually by having successfully kept hundreds of women from returning to prison as a result of providing them with marketable business skills and jobs on the outside upon completion of their sentences. Add to this amount a difficult to calculate yet undeniably significant savings resulting from the women who are now able to financially support their families without depending on welfare and other government handouts. 

On the revenue side, the women who successfully re-integrate with society generate state and federal tax dollars on the incomes they receive and on the goods and services they consume. More significantly though, over the past 15 years Televerde’s prison-based workforce has generated an estimated $2 billion in net new sales revenue for our clients. This is revenue on which taxes are paid, on which business is expanded, and on which the U.S. economy is strengthened. 

Yet also without question, we have our detractors, namely those who focus on unsubstantiated business risks where others see immense rewards. This group also includes those who emphasize that the currently incarcerated women are taking away jobs from those who haven’t committed crimes instead of focusing on the fact that it is because of the situation these women are in that they are generally much better qualified and poised to create a higher level of performance for our clients who clearly recognize this as a competitive advantage. 

In these uncertain economic times, with the help of our forward-thinking clients (many of whom are among the top technology firms in the world and others who are leaders in their respective categories), Televerde has generated one certainty: That corporate social responsibility goes well beyond “being green” and that it can and does have a far-reaching positive impact on government, business and society’s pocketbooks.

According to the Bureau of Justice and the U.S. Probation Office, an unemployed ex-offender is four times more likely to return to prison than an employed ex-offender. In the U.S., one in every 746 American women is imprisoned and between the ages of 35-39 one in every 265 women is imprisoned. Can we really afford not to reduce these numbers? 

Thank you Forbes for calling attention to a national problem and a solution that some members of corporate America are helping us to solve. 

We encourage you to read the Forbes article and then return to our blog if you’d like to share your opinions about what you’ve read. Don’t hold back – we welcome all comments.