main@jfw.groups.io | using jaws to work at a call center as an incoming customer service agent

Brent Harding

#83301

I couldn’t agree more. I worked for four years in a call center before they shut down the whole place at the end of February, not to return again. That was announced in November or December, so, I doubt the pandemic had a lot to play in it. I ended up doing it with pretty much no Jaws scripting, and I think pure luck is what got me by a lot. At least the major program where I’d update and change things on people’s accounts was web-based, and you could run it separate from the large customer relations program, which basically was a container for everything, gave suggested talking points and instructions, and was a place to put notes, probably among other back-end things upstream. That thing was all 100 percent Jaws cursoring, for the most part, but luckily what I needed was near the bottom. The phone program was a matter of labeling graphics, but it would only respond to braille routing buttons. I had a braille display because there were disclosures to read exactly. Things became a mess when they changed the customer relations software to not allow the Jaws cursor any more. Although there were more places you could tab, it was over 40 total, and I couldn’t read what was at the bottom I needed to hit next on, or do what with. Luck had it that they didn’t give up on me, but eventually got approval for me to forego that part, and just put the notes in the web-based system.

I think part of the challenge is that voc rehab is funny about having to bring in people from out of state; they don’t really want to do it. The assistive tech person they did have didn’t think anything at all could’ve been done, but I doubt they knew much about scripting. Another thing is that the company I worked for was actually what one would call a business process outsourcing company, so, they get contracts to support other companies, and we work for this company. That means that they don’t likely have the abilities to control what software and solutions are used, and the accessibility of them. I think this could be smoother if one worked with a company who has a call center for their own products, but that’s just my somewhat educated opinion. With the way VR works, getting them to come back in as the accessibility targets move might not be the way about it.

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From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 10:20 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: using jaws to work at a call centre as an incoming customer service agent

On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 09:06 AM, Larry Gassman wrote:

JAWS will work, but the degree to which it will function depends largely on the software being used.
If your call center has anyone who can script for JAWS, it would be a good idea to have them look at your company software to see if it works well with JAWS.

-
Having been in the position of having to assess this exact situation in the past, it cannot be overstated enough that someone familiar with JAWS needs to, at a very minimum, see how it works with all software the employee is expected to use. Call centers are very fast-paced environments, and you really can't afford to have things work perfectly 96% of the time.

In addition, and this was a problem at the company I was working with for the client I was working with, a significant amount of the software they were using was custom and not web-browser-based, and all of that had to be custom scripted.

Provided everyone knows that the effort to get you up and running could (note: could) be extensive, and everyone's willing to commit to doing the necessary slogging, there's no reason it couldn't work out. It did for the client to whom I make indirect reference because the company was committed to her and to the expense (and in this case it was significant) of having all the custom JAWS scripting done to allow her to be successful in that role.

--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
~ Lawrence Krauss

Brent Harding

#83303

I am pretty sure things are widely different from place to place, but where I worked for four years, the calls that were for me just automatically beeped in, and they were on. Also, there was a pause button that puts you into an after call mode where calls don’t come, so that you can finish up whatever is needed at the end. However, things really depend on the rest of the software in that how accounts are updated, products sold, etc, in how well or not it might work with Jaws. I know that not getting an AT person from VR that knew Jaws scripting probably meant that some aspects were slower than I’d have liked, where I was at was quite impressed with my abilities more than they had the abilities to fix things in an ideal way. They closed up the local site just at the end of this February, and I’m looking for another one to get into. However, throwing in the whole remote thing, it might be a bumpy road unless they use things that are very standard, web-based, etc. There were so many times I thought I’d give up because of the whole accessibility situation, but I’m sure glad I stuck with it as long as it was.

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From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Hank William Merchant
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 8:00 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: using jaws to work at a call centre as an incoming customer service agent

Good morning,

Does anyone maybe know if Jaws2020 will work successfully with a incoming

call centre Windows software that automatically sends the next

incoming call to the next available customer service agent and automatically at the same time answers that next incoming call by sending that next incoming customer inquiry directly to the headset of the next available customer sservice agent?

Does anyone maybe know how this answering automatically incoming calls

call centre Windows software lets a customer sservice agent who is

using Jaws know they are the one that has the next incoming call and that

they, the jaws user customer service agent are now talking live to the next

incoming customer call?

Any help I can maybe get with this would be so very

much appreciated as it looks very, very good that I might very soon be hired to work at a local call centre as an incoming customer service agent. Much, much thanks in advance for any help I can maybe get with this.

Kindest regards,

Hank

Brent Harding

#83308

At least I know things probably won’t be quite as hard the next time around, as things are gradually moving away from these difficult dedicated programs in the tech world, but you do have the things like remote desktops and stuff that might become a thing.

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From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 2:53 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: using jaws to work at a call centre as an incoming customer service agent

On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 03:37 PM, Ann Byrne wrote:

did the company do the scripting or was it a third party? where does one find a third party scripter?

-
The company hired a third-party. There are virtually no in-house JAWS Script experts because there are very few places where there is in-house use of JAWS at all, when workplaces are taken as a whole. And even in places where JAWS is used extensively, unless you're dealing with custom software that is not web based, but is "screen input/output based," there's likely been little need for custom scripting at all.

I did a lot of research back then, and some of it by asking on groups such as this one, for information regarding individuals who develop custom JAWS scripts professionally. It is a very small, select group.

I do not know who, ultimately, the company hired (and the company was Crutchfield, by the way, I think they deserve a shout-out for all they did to get this employee fully up and running, which was substantial). Since JAWS scripting is not something that I do, once I'd determined what was going to be needed my job was done.

--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
~ Lawrence Krauss

Shai

#83310

Hello,
Has anyone tried working with a call center called Issues and Answers?
If so, is their  software accessible with JAWS2020?
Thank you in advance for any responses.

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On 11/2/20, Brent Harding <brent@hostany.net> wrote:
At least I know things probably won’t be quite as hard the next time around,
as things are gradually moving away from these difficult dedicated programs
in the tech world, but you do have the things like remote desktops and stuff
that might become a thing.





From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 2:53 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: using jaws to work at a call centre as an incoming customer
service agent



On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 03:37 PM, Ann Byrne wrote:

did the company do the scripting or was it a third party? where does one
find a third party scripter?

-
The company hired a third-party.  There are virtually no in-house JAWS
Script experts because there are very few places where there is in-house use
of JAWS at all, when workplaces are taken as a whole.  And even in places
where JAWS is used extensively, unless you're dealing with custom software
that is not web based, but is "screen input/output based," there's likely
been little need for custom scripting at all.

I did a lot of research back then, and some of it by asking on groups such
as this one, for information regarding individuals who develop custom JAWS
scripts professionally.  It is a very small, select group.

I do not know who, ultimately, the company hired (and the company was
Crutchfield, by the way, I think they deserve a shout-out for all they did
to get this employee fully up and running, which was substantial).  Since
JAWS scripting is not something that I do, once I'd determined what was
going to be needed my job was done.

--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
       ~ Lawrence Krauss

-- 
Shai Wolman
Wolman technologies
(619)894-6587
Providing training to children and adults that empowers them to be
productive and successful with their assistive technology/computing
tasks.
atvistech@gmail.com

moderated using jaws to work at a call center as an incoming customer service agent

using jaws to work at a call center as an incoming customer service agent