Message system upgrade improves city services

In 1997, when Michael Sherwood accepted the position as IT director for Oceanside, Calif., he faced the task of managing the city’s technology upgrades. He began by standardizing all PCs and software used by city employees and installing IP switches. With that infrastructure in place, Sherwood began to correct problems and inefficiencies with the city’s voicemail system.

Originally installed in 1994, the voicemail system could no longer meet the needs of Oceanside’s 13,000 employees. For example, the police department needed advanced call processing to handle the 1,000 to 2,500 calls it received every day. “The Oceanside PD switchboard was overwhelmed by the sheer number of calls,” Sherwood says. “With our limited budget, we had to find a cost-effective solution that did not include increasing [the staff].”

The city also needed to improve voicemail menu capabilities so that departments could record customized greetings. With the old system, if the library closed at 5:30 p.m. and wanted an after-hours voicemail greeting listing its hours of operation, every department’s greeting would reference the same closing time of 5:30 p.m.

Sherwood researched various messaging solutions and, in January 2000, chose a voicemail system from Kirkland, Wash.-based AVT that was compliant with the city’s new IP switches and PCs. The system allows city employees to access voice, fax and e-mail messages from telephones, PCs or the Internet and to manage all of their messages from their e-mail inboxes. Also, when city staff members are out of their offices, they can access and manage all of their messages from any telephone.

Additionally, the new voicemail system has helped the police department manage the large volume of calls it receives. On operators’ PCs, the system provides information, such as callers’ names and phone numbers and the length of time they have been on hold. Using that information, operators can choose to answer calls, forward them or reply to the callers with a pre-recorded message. “Before [the new system], there was a two day turn-around time between when someone left a message asking for assistance or information, and when we were able to get back to them with an answer. Now, it takes about four hours,” Sherwood says.