As part of a strategy to reduce costs and enhance
operational efficiency and improve services to local residents,
Wakefield Council is to invest over £3 million in an IP-based
unified communications (UC) infrastructure from Siemens Enterprise
Communications.
UC systems are increasingly being adopted as a means to deliver
productivity gains to firms with dispersed workforces and to
boost collaboration between workers, suppliers and
customers.
The first components of the new platform at Wakefield are
scheduled to go live on two core sites at the end of July 2009, and
ultimately the council believes that it will allow it to handle
citizens’ needs more flexibly with calls more likely to be resolved
by one council staff member, decreased hold periods and improved
efficient call resolution.
The UC solution will integrate IP telephony, fixed to mobile
convergence (FMC), unified messaging and new contact centre
services. It will see use as part of a plan to support
a
working environment designed to reduce costs, increase staff
productivity, and deliver environmental benefits through
reduced travel.
The council also thinks that it will gain added business
benefits of reduced power consumption across the communications
estate and enhanced business continuity capabilities.
By opting for a
FMC telephony application, the council is confident that it
will be able to further reduce costs by transferring any calls to
the council’s own wide area network (WAN) operating across its
estate.
The new communications infrastructure will support the council’s
flexible working policy, supporting at-home, mobile and office
operations. In theory this should satisfy the council’s ambition to
maintain an efficient service during peak times when additional
remote workers can be plugged in to the main platform.
Explained Alan Kirkham, the Service Director for corporate ICT
at Wakefield Council, “The UC solution provided answers to our key
business requirements and the need to provide cutting edge services
that support our employees, deliver outstanding results to the
citizens of Wakefield and support government efficiency
targets.