SALEM, Ore., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Business has implemented a new customer-contact solution at the Oregon Employment Department to help it respond more quickly and cost-effectively to the more than 100,000 calls it receives each month from residents seeking unemployment benefits.

In a nine-month project, Verizon Business contact center consultants worked closely with the department to ensure its transition from time-division multiplexing (TDM) to Internet protocol was delivered according to the department's requirements, on time and without interruption to customer care.

"With unemployment at around 10 percent, we've seen an increase in call volumes and the amount of time our callers were spending on hold," said Tom Byerley, unemployment insurance administrator for the Oregon Employment Department. "By replacing three systems that were reaching their end of life with a modern, centralized voice-over-IP solution implemented by Verizon, we've been able to improve our response rates while controlling our overall communications costs."

The new IP-based unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions include Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal - and provide Interactive Voice Response capabilities with touch-tone commands to enable call transfers to the appropriate agent for handling. By transitioning to the new IP-based platform, the agency can quickly and easily increase the number of call center agents in an immediate response to a surge in calls.

"We have found that organizations adopting progressively more advanced unified communications and collaboration tools can transform business performance, and VoIP can be an important first step for an agency embarking on a UC&C strategy," said Bruce Rosen, vice president for sales for Verizon Business. "By deploying IP, we are helping the Oregon Employment Department modernize its operations while improving the customer experience for its constituents."

Verizon Business is a leader in providing government agencies of all sizes one-stop shopping for their communications and IT needs. The company has built the next-generation services -- including IT, security, communications, network and professional consulting services -- that are helping agencies make the most of their technology and transform the way government customers -- and their constituents -- do business.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees - enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments - including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions - rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

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SOURCE Verizon Business