Combating the pandemic with cutting-edge contact center technology

Making the pandemic manageable

More than a year has passed since the outbreak of the corona pandemic and the virus is still spreading. Our everyday life continues to be determined by incidence values and other indicators. But the fight against the virus is in full swing. In addition to the vaccination campaign, a comprehensive catalog of measures is being used to make the pandemic manageable and significantly reduce the number of new infections.

The Bavarian state capital Munich relies on so-called contact tracing teams to identify and inform the contacts of infected people and thus contain the spread of the virus. Contact tracing should break chains of infection as quickly as possible. Due to the situation, the Munich contact tracing teams were set up spatially separated from each other. The merger at a central location and uniform equipment with modern technology should make contact tracing even more efficient. In view of the acute crisis situation, rapid action was required.

Contact center in two weeks

According to the order, IP Dynamics should set up a contact center with several hotlines, DTMF query and waiting area for up to 500 agents or contact trackers within two weeks. The Voxtron Communication Center (VCC) from the manufacturer Enghouse Interactive should form the basis of the solution. This contact center is already successfully operating for all service hotlines in the state capital of Munich.

The tracking center was to be built in Hall C2 in the exhibition city of Riem. In order to ensure the smooth functionality of the center, the state capital of Munich deliberately did not use an existing infrastructure, but restructured the entire center organisationally and technically. IP Dynamics was responsible for providing and configuring the contact center software with the entire necessary server landscape.

In order to save valuable hours in view of the tight schedule, the IP Dynamics team set up and installed the SQL, Contact Center and IVR servers at the Hamburg headquarters immediately after delivery. Meanwhile, colleagues from Munich and Stuttgart carried out the basic installation of the Voxtron Communication Center remotely and put the system through its paces. The servers were then transferred to Munich and implemented there.

‍“During the entire project period, we worked hand in hand with colleagues from the IT department of the state capital of Munich”, remembers Alexander Birkholz, responsible for technical implementation at IP Dynamics. In this way, all participants have overcome many technical challenges. For example, it was decided at short notice to work with VCC web clients at workstations instead of the usual fat clients due to security and data protection considerations. IP Dynamics provided the additional server capacity required for this on time.

In the last three days before go-live, IP Dynamics made the system fail-safe (redundancy). In addition, the call flows were added to the VCC and final fine adjustments were made.

Successful contact tracing seven days a week

As a result of the excellent cooperation, the tracking center was put into operation as planned on December 1 after a final functional test. Today, up to 500 contact tracers are fighting the coronavirus here in 24/7 mode.

If necessary, the center could be expanded quickly. Contact trackers use the VCC web client and make phone calls via headset. Thanks to contact center software, people called can call the crisis center back after a missed call. Callers can specify their concerns using an IVR query and DTMF menu. If all employees are on the call, callers are kept in the waiting area before they are transferred via contact center routing to a suitable employee.

The new tracking center, including modern IT equipment, enables more effective work processes and faster arrangements. IT is thus making an important contribution to fighting the pandemic.

For more information on how to reference this project, please here. If you are also looking for a modern Contact center solution If you are interested, feel free to contact us.