Previous page:Dial this number first
Taking phone ownership
While Vancouver can cut costs by moving departments off a hosted telecom system, the City of Calgary - the first in Canada to offer 311 - owns all its fibre-optic cables and other telephone equipment, such as PBX switch and branch exchanges.
"We've been running our own phone environment for so long we have it down to a science," says Doug Hodgson, IT manager for innovation and architecture.
"We do our billing and management like adds, moves and changes, with a very small number of people, even to the envy of our service provider, Telus."
Nearby Edmonton has deployed VoIP, but the city was renting a lot of Centrex lines, so it made sense for them to push for that, says Hodgson.
"It's never been a big bang for us to go out and get that traffic off the rented copper and put it on our own network."
Things like telework, unplanned peak relief, business continuity and disaster planning come to mind as some of VoIP's potential merits, but the city has yet to fully explore the technology, adds Randy Vanee, 311 program manager.
Vendors claim IP makes computer-telephony integration much easier and more cost-effective, where a voice call might launch an application function.
"There were ways to tie pieces of technology together in the past, but with the advent of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and VoIP it's become a lot easier," says Larry Brown, a product manager for Telus.
"The technology products you'd go out and buy would have this sort of thing embedded in them already."
Darren Hamilton, a partner business manager for HP ProCurve Networking, says it's the applications capable around VoIP that are among the key drivers for an IP network.
"The ability to properly service 311 is access to information - timely, accessible information that's available to the person servicing those calls," he says. "The more you can have on a single network, the easier it is to manage and to scale."
But for Calgary there just hasn't been a compelling reason to pursue VoIP. Business process enhancements like workflow tracking and the integration of citizen relationship management software with the call centre have yet to present any challenges, says Hodgson.
"Everything you can do with VoIP, we can do within our existing infrastructure." The city uses Nortel's Call Pilot application.
"We're coming out of this knowing how many calls we're getting each year, including the recreation centres and swimming pools that weren't as sophisticated in counting or managing calls," says Terry Pearce, manager of citizen services.
Calgary's swimming pools can now get back to managing the swimming pool, giving lessons and maintaining the facility, instead of giving out schedules and information on how much it costs to swim, he adds.
Transfer to central
Windsor 311 went live in August 2005, making it the third Canadian municipality and first in Ontario to do so. A month later, the city's IT department relocated and used the opportunity to upgrade to VoIP.
Parts of City Hall undergoing renovation and the city's legal department, also on new premises, have switched to VoIP and a new long-term care facility opening later this year will also be VoIP-enabled. "As we move to new sites, VoIP is our first choice," says Harry Turnbull, the city's director of IT.
Continued:Managing process change
Related content:
Better service worth the cost, Mississauga says
Modern architectures show designs on citizens
Ottawa wants more from connectivity
311: More than you think
VoIP performance: more than a bandwidth issue
These VoIP players know the score
icon.
