Unified Communications Project Overview

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2 Unified Communications Project Overview Project Team Hazel English Project Sponsor Ben Barnes Project Manager Christopher Almeida Technical Lead (Voice) John Trumbell Technical Lead (Network) Softchoice LP Implementation Team Project Details Independent Analysis Conducted Council approved budget with upper limit of $1.8 million RFP issued and awarded to Softchoice LP Project Length 14 months 2

3 Project Budget Capital Budget Breakdown Description Budgeted Amounts Hardware & Software $423, Professional Services $465, **5 Year Warranty and Support $711, Network Equipment Upgrades $100, Contingency Fund $100, Total $1,800, **Enhanced Support options will be scaled back and managed by IT Services in 2016 i.e. Moves, Adds and Change 3

4 How We Got Started 4

5 Corporate Objective Primary Corporate Objective Improved Customer Service Solution Must Communications System Targeted as Area for Improvement Solution must integrate with existing Intranet Initiative to improve collaboration and access to information Task force Created in 2010 to focus on improving Customer Service Review People, Process & Technology Impediments to delivering Excellent Customer Service Seek opportunities to improve Customer Service throughout the City Develop proposal for improving Customer Service Enable efficient method of communication to City departments & employees Make the process of employee communication simple and low cost Provide Tools to enable employees to effectively communicate with one another All this with one Main goal mandated across the city Improve Customer Service Phone Communications deemed as essential to improving Customer Service Enable the city to run on one Phone system Simplify constituent ability to reach City employees or Services with ease Enable City employees to be more accessible 5

6 Objectives To Improve Communications Single communication platform throughout the City Simplify public access to City Departments, Employees & Services Provide simple 4 digit dialing for all City employees Enhance/Update Call Center Technology Capabilities Improved call handing capabilities and management Enable agent access from any City location (Emergency Relocation) Provide multiple methods of contact to Customer Service Center, i.e. phone, text & online chat Enable Employee self service for Basic phone services Enable employee communication mobility Reduce dependency on desk phones Technology to provide mobility and accessibility to employee anywhere Provide a collaboration platform for employees to work and communicate effectively Mitigate Operational Expenses Where Possible / Improve Service delivery Reduce or eliminate costs related to employee MAC s Reduce costs by eliminating Analog line services Technology must support existing City Issued Hardware 6

7 Legacy Telephony Infrastructure 34 office locations operating independent phone systems Over 180+ analog phone lines throughout the City Over 40 published numbers for City Services Telephony System Not Standardized 8 different types of phone systems across the environment Some systems maintained by service providers Telephony Systems Outdated Limited functionality High failure rate Multiple sites encountered system failures Q Trend to continue if left in current state 7

8 Current State 8

9 Go Forward Strategy 9

10 Environment Analysis Independent Analysis conducted Survey issued to collect staffing information and telephony inventory In person interviews conducted with departments to collect the following information Business requirements for communications services, present & future Issues and deficiencies with the existing phone system Result of the Assessment Strategic plan for new communication system developed Council approved budget for Unified Communication System RFP issued and awarded to Softchoice LP for a Cisco Solution Project kick off October

11 What We Learned Traditional Phone Calls Travel for in person face to face or group meetings Inter- Office Mail Corporate Intranet Staff Online Meetings Text Messages 11

12 What is Unified Communications? 12

13 Project Goals Transition employees to the new system with minimal disruption Maintain phone service availability throughout term of the project Implement effective communication plan Engage employees and keep them involved Educate employees on the new set of tools set and how to use them efficiently and effectively Support Employees Provide effective support to ensure employee adoption Develop online information site with How To reference guides Complete full migration to UC platform by Dec 2015 Deliver a resilient Unified Communication Platform 13

14 Unified Communications Features Direct extension to extension calls to any City employee Ability to transfer calls to any City location Improves Customer Service Efficient Communication between employees Hot Desking Employee Mobility throughout the City Immediate without interaction from Third party or IT Support No Cost to relocate employees to existing stations Staff Online meetings Meetings on Demand Reduction of employee travel for face to face meetings Ability to record meetings and replay to other employees when required i.e. HR Training sessions can be conducted once and replayed to many On demand call bursting for remote sites without additional costs i.e. Recreation Registration process generating increased phone calls Remote sites previously limited analog lines no longer subject to busy signals for inbound calls 14

15 Unified Communications Cont. Single Number Reach & Softphones Provides direct access to the Phone System for teleworker employees Unified Messaging Voic to provides efficient option to take voice calls and attach to projects, investigations records and simplifies the process of sharing a voic with many Quick access to voic for teleworker employees with Corporate Mobile phones or laptops Instant Messaging and Presence Ability to communicate live with required resource vs using (avoid delayed response) Save time locating a resource vs calling a series of extensions to locate someone Ability to share computer screen to for simplified collaboration and employee to employee assistance / how to visual knowledge transfer 15

16 Unified Messaging Voic message to the Outlook inbox Click to call contact from your inbox Voice message to text conversion 16

17 Audio & Web Conferencing Host audio/video meetings Collaborate with other employee by screen sharing Services available via self service 17

18 Instant Messaging and Presence Awareness Instant messaging with one person or start group chat Share presence status information with others 18

19 Where are we today? 19

20 Project Status Full UC Solution installed and ready for deployment Includes Voice, Instant Messaging(IM) & Presence, Unified Messaging, Staff Online Meetings & Collaboration Migration to Unified Communications is underway Combination of Hard phones and Softphones deployed IM & Presence tool to be deployed to all employees Available on desktop and smartphones/tablets Softphones deployed to limited number of employees based on need Implementation of single number reach for non-smartphones Migration Began migrations Feb 12 th 2015 As of May 8 th 2015, approximately 30% of employees have been trained and migrated to the UC system 20

21 Migration Status Migrations Completed 230 staff 84 Market Street City Hall 180 Greenwich 220 Clarence Street Migrations in Progress Approx. 270 staff 1 Market Square 220 Colborne 415 Mohawk Rd In progress locations to be completed June 30 th

22 Migration Status cont. Remaining migrations to be completed by Commission August 2015 Public Works October Community Services November 2015 Public Health, Safety & Social Services Includes John Noble Home Project Conclusion December

23 Employee Feedback Positive Feedback for the IM & Presence Awareness tool Migrated employees comment that the ability to locate the correct resource has improved and they look forward to the rest of the City being migrated Instant access to a resource via IM for quick inquires and resolutions has improved daily work for employees Access to colleague availability has helped some in their decision making process, i.e. moving onto the next available resource IM seen as tool that can help improve Customer Service by providing accurate and immediate access to the right resource Collaboration Tool seen as a way to reduce employee travel Unified Messaging provides ability to attach case related messages to files for inspectors Softphone seen as a critical tool for employees who perform most of their work outside the office 23

24 Objectives Achieved Simplified Communication Platform Streamlines Constituent access to City Departments, Employees & Services Single Number access to all City Departments and Resources at completion of project Improved employee to employee communications is significantly Armed with the right tools, employees can now better interact and communicate efficiently Access to colleague availability On demand collaboration without IT or third party assistance or costs Enhance Call Center technology for City and Brantford Power Customer Services Enables ability to provide multiple sources of contact from the public Voice, Online Chat or Text Messaging Effective tools provide for simplified Management for Supervisors Designed to support future Call Center initiatives Self Service employee relocations / Desk Sharing Enable easy access to teleworkers for employees and Constituents City has been enabled with the right tools to help meet its objective of providing Improved Customer Service 24

25 Future State 25

26 Did we eliminate any costs? 26

27 Cost Savings Opportunity for Cost Savings Cancel existing contracts for Legacy Phone systems Cancel analog lines no longer required Eliminate third party cost for Moves, Add & Changes Description System Location Yearly Cost Hardware and Software Support Contracts Select Locations $40, Analog Line Cancellation All Locations $60, Moves, Adds & Changes All Locations $23, Estimated $124, yearly operating expense recovered 27

28 Cost Avoidance Some legacy systems required replacement Departments planned to replace systems due to age or failure Works Yard Brantford Hydro (NetOptiks) Earl Haig Tourism Pollution Control Rental system implemented as a stop gap Eagle Place Old Wayne Gretzky System installed as stop gap Parks & Rec System failure Replaced with loaner system from vendor as a stop gap 28

29 Cost Avoidance cont. Customer Service call queuing application End of Life Software has been end of support for over 5 years Additional licensed agents cannot be added Licenses not available for purchased as product is end of life Severe failure of this application leaves Customer Services departments at Risk Brantford Power Customer Service department considered hosted Call Center as an Option 29

30 Cost Avoidance Summary Cost Avoidance Replacement Cost Works Yard $9, Brantford Hydro Unknown Earl Haig $2, Pollution Control $4, Eagle Place $2, Parks & Recreation $5, Tourism $5, Call Center Application Replacement $35, Brantford Power Hosted Call Center Unknown Total $63, *One time Capital Expenditure 30

31 Thank You 31