It began nearly two years ago – the City of Grand Rapids, working with CDW-G, nears complete replacement and redesign of the City’s Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, saving over $750,000 annually in IT expenses – but also transforming the operations of the City.
Two years ago Information Technology "guru" Paul Klimas, upon joining the City, informs the City Commission that the City’s computer systems are antiquated and failing--no surprise to City employees and citizens alike. But the strategic recommendation to ‘refresh’ the City’s computer architectures was daunting and concerning to most – as you can’t simply turn them off for a period of time – City operations had to continue.
Beginning with a replacement of the City’s Internet capabilities, a mere 4MbB of bandwidth serving 1200 computer users was accelerated to 40+MB, improving performance by 1000%. Then the arduous and methodical task of replacing the aged computer network was at hand. Most of these changes occurred during ‘o-dark hundred,’ meaning in the middle of the night, according to City’s Operations Manager Tim Becker. “Working with local expert (CDW-G) who understood that we operate 24/7 has been of real value.”
The City is rushing to refresh their telephone system with a robust Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) – telephony replacement. “My biggest concern has always been the stability of the City’s phone system. It could fail at any time, but we had to get these other technologies upgraded before we tackled our new VoIP system,” states Klimas.
The City is nearing completion of infrastructure overhaul – resulting in improved performance and stability, but also enhanced capabilities which assist in the City’s transformational efforts. A few results from these improvements include:
- Teleconferencing – Recently, City Treasurer Al Mooney makes a virtual-presentation to the Michigan Municipal Treasurers Association, but he doesn’t have to leave City Hall, drive, or incur costs of the trip. He goes ‘virtual’ and others in the audience watch from their offices as well. City operations are having less meetings and more virtual discussions and record the meetings for those who cannot attend. This increases transparency for the citizen and improves communication for workers whose schedules are not accommodating. “The goal is streamlined communication--getting the information, but not when the meeting occurs, rather when you have time. In many cases this means after hours. This also eliminates the need to take a lot of notes or meeting minutes – where misinformation of what was said or meant can occur. If you want to know what was said/meant, just go watch it,” Klimas explains.
- Call Center – The City now has the capability to direct, monitor, and manage all citizen calls to the City. This affords advanced capabilities for customer service response and proper redirection of calls. Klimas quickly clarifies by reasoning these capabilities are just starting, ‘the goal today is to transition completely to the new phone system,’ then we will leverage these advanced call center tools to improve operations. The City now has the ability to analyze and report complete internet, network, and phone activities, affording enterprise performance management.
- Other VoIP Improvements include Single Number Reach – a tech tool that takes the guessing game out of which number to call. No more having to change business cards when your number changes; no more picking which phone the worker is at for the day – just one number rings all devices configured by the user.
- Presence – Perhaps a lesser impact, but with a future, is the City’s presence tools. Leveraging Microsoft Office Communicator, City staff now see who is at their desk before they call, send them an email or pay them a visit. The system tells the user at a glance if the employee is on the phone or away from their desk. This promotes direct contact the first time – “I check the status of someone before I make the call. It cuts down on a lot of lost time. It also cuts down on simple chat sessions going through our eMail system. You’d be surprised how much time you get back by not chasing someone down when you need an answer,” according to Selma Tucker, Performance Analyst responsible for deploying and managing many of these new enhancements.
“Two years and so much more to come,” proclaims Klimas. The City is just now deploying tools which were started two years ago. These tools include an array of business process improvements, standards for operational control, mobile office uses, enterprise content management, and City-wide improvement efforts to which Klimas calls “leverage technology to effect change.”