The Keep Call Centers Act: Regulation as Competitive Advantage
October 8, 2025
The Keep Call Centers in America Act (S.2495) could reshape how companies approach their support operations—but here's what many organizations miss: regulatory change doesn't have to mean competitive disadvantage.
The Keep Call Centers in America Act isn’t new—a version was introduced in 2019 but stalled in committee when COVID-19 shifted legislative priorities. The 2025 version comes back stronger, with bipartisan sponsorship and provisions that address the weaknesses that killed the earlier attempt.
Here’s what matters most: The bill would give customers explicit rights to request transfer to U.S.-based human agents during any service interaction—whether they’re speaking with AI or a human agent offshore. Beyond this consumer right, the legislation would introduce monthly fines for companies that offshore without proper disclosure and place non-compliant companies on a public list for five years. The Departments of Labor and Commerce would build enforcement infrastructure to track offshoring notices, audit AI usage, and monitor compliance across thousands of companies.
The reality check: Will this actually pass?
Bipartisan sponsorship and AI transparency concerns signal genuine political momentum, and the stronger enforcement provisions address the previous version’s fatal weaknesses. However, significant business opposition, implementation complexity, and resource requirements for federal monitoring could delay or dilute the final version.
Our assessment? There’s moderate momentum, but the smart move isn’t to bet on passage or failure—it’s to prepare for multiple scenarios while maintaining operational flexibility.
Rather than viewing potential regulation as purely restrictive, we can leverage technology to create customer experiences that satisfy both compliance requirements and business objectives—often exceeding what traditional domestic operations deliver.
The New Model: Digital Intelligence + Human Touch
The optimal customer service model isn’t purely automated or purely human. It’s strategically layered. Technology handles the first mile through AI-powered IVR and chat systems that manage initial contact and gather critical information. Humans handle the complex mile when automation reaches its limits, ensuring issues receive the attention they deserve. The outcome? Problems get resolved through the most appropriate channel, maximizing both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Combining cutting-edge technology with intelligent geographic positioning creates customer experiences that excel regardless of where regulations land.
This isn’t theoretical. We’re seeing it work right now, with offshore operations outperforming domestic teams on the metrics that matter most: customer satisfaction, sales conversion, and quality scores.
Four technology pillars that level the playing field
At OP360, we’ve built technology partnerships around principles that minimize client burden: no heavy lifting required, security simplified, rapid deployment, intuitive interfaces, focused solutions, and demonstrated value from day one.
Strategic geographic positioning: The two-location advantage
Not all customer service work is created equal. The optimal operations strategy matches interaction complexity and requirements with regional strengths.
The Philippines excels at high-volume customer care like email support and live chat, technical help desk operations, healthcare support with appropriate HIPAA compliance, insurance services, 24/7 coverage leveraging time zone advantages, and senior-focused support where patient, empathetic communication proves particularly effective.
Colombia excels at premium customer experiences for high-value segments, healthcare escalations requiring cultural sensitivity, financial services including fraud resolution and complex account management, technical escalations benefiting from time zone alignment, social media management requiring cultural nuance, and crisis management where cultural alignment and overlapping working hours matter most.
The proof is in the pudding: For a leading self-storage company that turned to outsourcing for the first time, OP360 implemented a technology-enabled offshore solution that addressed significant concerns about potential negative impact on Customer Satisfaction and Sales Conversion Rates—the metrics that directly impacted their bottom line–and helped them cut costs in half.
Concerns about offshore quality aren’t inherent limitations—they reflect implementation approaches. With appropriate technology and strategic execution, offshore operations can exceed domestic performance while delivering substantial cost advantages.
Your path forward
The companies that will thrive aren’t those hoping S.2495 fails—they’re the ones preparing to excel regardless of what happens in Congress. Early preparation for compliance requirements, combined with technology enablement, creates advantages over competitors who delay adaptation.
Our approach delivers regulatory resilience through preparation for multiple scenarios, technology adaptability that maintains competitive advantage regardless of regulatory environment, geographic flexibility enabling rapid adjustment to changing requirements, and outcome focus on measurable business results rather than location compliance alone.
Whether S.2495 passes in its current form, passes with modifications, or stalls again in committee, companies that adopt this approach will maintain competitive advantages through superior technology utilization, strategic geographic positioning that balances cost and quality, operational flexibility enabling rapid adjustment, and demonstrated results that prove offshore excellence rather than accepting limitations.
The future of customer service belongs to organizations that view regulatory requirements not as constraints but as opportunities to differentiate through strategic preparation and technological sophistication.
The question isn’t whether change is coming—it’s whether you’ll be ready to turn that change into competitive advantage.
