Surrey County Council (SCC) has upgraded its communications infrastructure to include a new Microsoft Teams telephony system.
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The UK local authority based in South East England was assisted in the switchover by FourNet and 4C Strategies, which it describes as “digital transformation specialists”.
Now successfully completed and launched, the council’s communications have been overhauled to improve the delivery of key services to citizens in its region.
The changes also include the integration of NICE’s CXone contact centre technology within multiple locations.
Liz Mills, Interim Director of Customer Digital & Change at Surrey County Council, commented on the success and improvements in service that the innovations will bring:
Our telephony upgrade ensures efficient communication, benefiting our community as well as our teams. As an organisation, we are committed to ensuring that no one is left behind and will continue to harness technology to better serve our residents.”
“I am immensely proud of our colleagues’ efforts on the day and their endeavours in the months and weeks leading up to the transition.”
“This robust groundwork ensured that the project was completed in a timely manner without causing undue disruption for our customers.”
Microsoft Teams Phone
According to SCC, it receives more than 870,000 inbound calls every year. Of these, roughly 550,000 incoming calls will utilise this new Teams telephony system.
Meanwhile, 240,000 calls will now be routed through the Council’s contact centres.
A Microsoft article published last month on its online learning pages outlines the key feature of Teams Phone, which include the ability to place and receive calls, transfer calls, and mute or unmute calls.
To enable external calling, Teams Phone can be connected to the PSTN either by purchasing a Microsoft Calling Plan or using your current telephony infrastructure for on-premises PSTN connectivity.
Teams Phone also enables the use of auto attendants, call queues, voicemail, and more.
Lorraine Juniper, Senior Responsible Officer at SCC, believes the realisation of this telephony upgrade is the result of a positive collaboration experience: “The success of this project is a testament to the strong partnership between Surrey County Council, FourNet, and 4C Strategies.”
“The collaboration has been exceptional, ensuring that the switchover was completed seamlessly.”
The council’s decision was also likely to have been motivated by its previous communications systems nearing their end of life.
SCC maintains that FourNet has “unrivalled expertise” in the public sector digital transformation space, with over 30 government departments and agencies on its public sector customer list.
The company was chosen following a “competitive tender process”.
Richard Pennington, CEO at FourNet, shared his perspective on the deployment:
“By working so closely and successfully with 4C Strategies and Surrey County Council, we’ve ensured that we met some extremely tight deadlines, while enhancing the Council’s communication systems and streamlining processes for staff and the county’s residents.”
“We have delivered a future-proof communication infrastructure that will support SCC’s mission to provide outstanding public services to all of its citizens.”
The new systems have also furnished the SCC with advanced analytics tools, allowing the council to obtain insights into its system usage, which will in turn lead to improved operations and service delivery, as well as ensuring that resources are efficiently distributed.
