Time for 10111 to go digital

IT IS difficult to feel sympathy for the striking workers at the national emergency 10111 call centre. Their concerns appear real – a four-year wait for recommended pay hikes apparently agreed to during erstwhile national police commis- sioner Rhiah Phiyega’s tenure – but their modus operandi? It beggars imagination that people can go to work – a job predicated on helping others in their time of greatest need – and blithely sit by while phones ring with pleas for assistance going un- answered. Unfortunately, whether they like it or not, that’s how most of us see the strike this week – and in particular their interpretation of their rights. The fact that they are not regarded as members of the police force, but as civilians, makes not one iota of difference. The other reality is that many people hold the 10111 service in total contempt – even when the call centre is allegedly working at full capacity. There are too many stories of phones that ring un- answered as the innocent face threat to their lives. The 10111 operators are, like the metered taxi industry, dinosaurs waiting to be rendered extinct by a digital disruptor that puts power back in the hands of those who should have it. Uber did it for the metered taxi industry, show- ing that people are willing to use taxis – if they can have control of the service they receive. Ironically, the Namola app could do much the same thing for the 10111 service, letting users ac- cess the same resources; the SAPS, traffic cops, fire brigade and ambulances efficiently and, import- antly, urgently by using technology to marry sup- ply with demand. The app is still in soft launch phase, having been piloted in Stellenbosch. Like the luddites of yore, the 10111 operators might just have given Namola’s developers the greatest marketing gift yet.