Adapting and Growing in New Ukrainian Reality: Story of Simply Contact

Simply Contact is turning 9 years old as a company this week but it’s not the time for celebrations. If you follow us you know that Simply Contact was originally founded in Dnipro, Ukraine. Considering the war going on right now, we’ll take time to look into our work in Ukrainian offices.

It has been more than a month since the beginning of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Ukrainian citizens have become one big team doing its best to support the motherland. As a company, we focused our efforts to help our employees from the western part of Ukraine, keep our projects running smoothly, and support Ukraine as much as we possibly can. 

How We Managed to Keep Working

This challenging wartime situation accelerated innovative development, making our company more cohesive, decentralized, and productive. Simply Contact has managed to keep working on most projects, and 85% of its employees also retained their jobs. We did our best to help the employees and their families move to safe regions. 

Our office in Lviv sheltered team members evacuating from the territories in danger. The employees could stay there for a couple of days, with all the necessary amenities. For many of them, the office in Lviv became a way station. Today the agents of Simply Contact are working in 10 countries. We help employees work remotely and care about the early payment of salaries and bonuses.

The clients of Simply Contact were astonished at how the company managed to continue working on projects as usual. In turn, we are so proud to get such high regard for our work and that we remain a reliable partner at all times.

Konstantin Ryzhov, CEO of Simply Contact

“On the one hand, we refused to believe that the war would break out in Ukraine. On the other hand, our company was fully prepared for possible escalation. We had continuity plans in place for each project. Even in peacetime, our company has all the required workflows ready, and the team duplicates all the critical services and infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted operation under all circumstances.”

Launching Volunteering Projects

It was important for us to help Ukraine by doing what we can do best - customer support. Simply Contact has been in touch with government authorities and public organizations. We create and strengthen emergency communication means and helplines to support the Ukrainian army, territorial defense forces, and affected civilians. We are pleased to tell you about these projects in more detail.

We served the hotline at the Office of the President from March 8 to March 24, 2022. The key focus of this line was on getting applications for the supply of humanitarian cargo, medicines, food, and hygiene products.

On March 3, 2022, Simply Contact started supporting and processing requests submitted to the civil organization Razom UA. Under this project, we process people's requests for food, clothing, hygiene products, transportation, housing, etc.

Since March 15, 2022, we have provided services for the 15-45 hotline. The Ukrainian government opened the line to consult people on any issues related to the war in the country. 40+ agents are already working on the helpline - for now, we have processed more than 40,000 calls. 

Konstantin Ryzhov, CEO of Simply Contact

“I am proud that our team launched the volunteering projects in a record time for the industry (2 days). Our incredible employees were able to organize the processes and assemble teams in such a difficult time. We managed to prepare the technical part, train agents and set up analytics & monitoring processes quickly and efficiently. Employees from all over Ukraine, Poland, Croatia joined the projects”, 

How Agents Cope with Emotions Handling Calls in a Wartime

Every day and in every call, our Ukrainian employees face stories of real people who found themselves in tough life circumstances: somebody has no food and water, somebody’s city is occupied by the invaders and there are numerous explosions heard around the person, somebody's close relative died, somebody’s house is destroyed. The task of Simply Contact agents is to professionally and quickly prompt people on what to do and who they can turn to for help.

In this case, the main challenge for Simply Contact agents is to stay calm, cope with emotions, and do everything to support these people and help. Though after some terrifying stories of callers it is hard to continue working, it must be done. The requests on the lines don’t end and a lot of people are waiting for the answer. We provide psychological support for our agents to help them cope with difficult requests and stay productive and helpful.

Konstantin Ryzhov, CEO of Simply Contact

“I never cease to admire Simply Contact employees as, despite emotional fatigue, they continue to be efficient and cope with emotions. After all, we see how much these hotlines help people in need and how many lives we have potentially saved. This is what drives us forward.”

Besides the volunteering lines mentioned above, we urgently joined the project of "Ukrposhta" (the national postal service of Ukraine). Our contact center helps solve such important issues as social benefits and pension payments. It was a new opportunity to break our own record for the team - and we launched the line in one day! Currently, more than 40 employees are working on this project and they have taken 38,140 calls since March 5, 2022. 

We Grow and Support Ukraine

Simply Contact supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, so our team and the company itself donate to help the Ukrainian army and immigrants. Our clients also don't stand aside and do everything possible to help Ukrainian citizens. For example, Wizz Air is committed to helping Ukrainian refugees reach their destination, so they are providing 100,000 free seats on continental Europe flights departing from Ukraine’s border countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania). 

Even in such difficult times Simply Contact continues to grow and provide top-quality services. We hired new employees during this period. Our company established a new office in Warsaw, Poland, so we keep moving toward our goal of going global and continuously enhancing our quality of service.

We stand with Ukraine, its economy, and its citizens by all means. We hope our readers will also support the Ukrainian people in any possible way. Together we will win!