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Interactive Voice Response System <br />October 21, 2014 <br />Page 2 <br />In order to provide improved customer service and increase staff efficiency, a Request for <br />Proposal ( #14 -025) was released for an "Interactive Voice Response Systems ". Fourteen <br />vendors were notified. Selectron Technologies, Inc., based in Portland, Washington, is a <br />provider to local government agencies with utilities and was the only bidding vendor. In <br />contacting firms that did not respond, most indicated they did not have the hardware and <br />software integration experience to implement dynamic IVR solutions that the City desired. <br />Selectron Technologies is a well - established company providing municipal government and <br />utilities agencies interactive voice and web solutions. Staff fully evaluated the Selectron <br />Technologies, Inc. proposal and found it to be a high quality solution for meeting the City's <br />requirements and long -term needs. <br />The IVR system will significantly expand and enhance service delivery by providing a 24 <br />hour, 7 -days per week '24/7' access to general and account information and payment <br />capacity in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Specialized interactive voice response <br />system server hardware and software with professional voice -over will be installed on <br />integration with City databases. This new IVR system infrastructure will make available the <br />opportunity to perform outbound calls with payment processing for specific service, <br />payment, and emergency issues related to resident or business accounts. <br />For the CAO, the proposed Interactive Voice Response (IVR) will allow the CAO to save <br />attorney time and expense with proper routing to assigned legal section or attorney. The <br />system will also provide uniform and detailed legal instructions or information lines <br />regarding important public interest areas regarding citywide issues or legal actions freeing <br />up attorneys to perform critical tasks. <br />There are significant expected City savings and efficiencies in staff organization and time, <br />while maintaining proper internal controls. For example, routine service questions can be <br />`self- service', answered through IVR human voice automation providing specific account <br />details and payment information. Capabilities will include credit card, debit and a -check <br />payment processing while in the IVR system (for cyber security reasons, no personal or <br />card information will be retained). Industry benchmarks indicate a range of 35% to 50% of <br />calls being responded to by IVR. Importantly as such, the IVR system will allow the more <br />complex and most pertinent and critical calls to be addressed directly by staff. <br />Implementation is expected to provide more time for greater service delivery, and improve <br />overall resident and customer satisfaction. <br />The proposed configuration includes funding for the Municipal Utilities and Dog License <br />units in the Treasury & Customer Service Division of the Finance & Management Services <br />Agency, and the City Attorney's Office. Initial implementation is $181,080 and each year for <br />ongoing support maintenance of $25,800. The total funding for this phase of one -year <br />warranty and up to two -year ongoing support maintenance is $232,680. A contingency of <br />$95,000 is included, to allow for the possibility of the Parks, Recreation and Community <br />25KK -2 <br />