Veteran not-for-profit technology enterprise WorkVentures has launched SafetyNet – a low-cost technical support program aimed at providing low-income and disadvantaged Australians with Microsoft Windows-related assistance.
"People living on low incomes can¹t afford to pay a technician $100 or more just to come and look at a computer," said WorkVentures chief Linda Graham-McCann. "If a WorkVentures IT trainee can solve a customer's problem over the phone for a fraction of the market cost, this puts assistance within their reach."
Support calls through SafetyNet start at $19 for Centrelink cardholders and $25 for the general public.
"The burden of technical problems can have a significant effect on a person's life, if they are restricted by a low income, a disability or rely on the computer for social interaction. SafetyNet will help ease that burden and give disadvantaged Australians the benefit of affordable technical support," said Graham-McCann, formerly Microsoft Australia's first managing director.
A social benefit is also seen at the other end of the phone at SafetyNet, with unemployed youth recruited as trainees. A statement from WorkVentures said: "The call centre is primarily staffed by IT trainees who undertake nationally recognised qualifications while gaining paid work experience. The trainees are supervised and mentored by WorkVentures' senior technicians to prepare them for a career in IT and a better future."
The SafetyNet call centre is located in Mascot in southern Sydney and will be open weekdays from 9am to 5pm Australian eastern time.
The call centre program complements the long-running Connect IT business, which has supplied refurbished computers to disadvantaged people since 2002.
"Computers are wonderful when you know how to use them," said Graham-McCann. "The WorkVentures team has seen first-hand the positive, empowering effect having access to a computer and the internet can have on people's lives."
Graham-McCann became CEO of WorkVentures earlier this year, taking over from late founder Steve Lawrence. She brought Microsoft to the Australian market in 1981 as the founder of the vendor's first local distie – Wiser-Microsoft – then becoming the first boss of Microsoft Australia in 1983.
-1.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
