State of Louisiana Deploys Cloud Contact Center for Workforce Commission

Enghouse Interactive announced that the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) is the most recent state agency to leverage the State of Louisiana’s cloud contact centre, which is based on Enghouse Interactive’s Contact Center: Service Provider (CCSP).

Enghouse Interactive provides the State with a cloud-model for self-service and contact centre solutions for engaging their constituents. Actively using CCSP since 2012, the State of Louisiana has replaced outdated legacy technology comprised of disparate on-premise solutions. CCSP’s multi-tenant architecture has enabled the State to consolidate separate agencies onto a single platform. The service, administered by the Office of Telecommunication Services, allows each agency independence in meeting their specific contact centre and citizen requirements while leveraging the shared platform for more efficient and cost-effective operations.

With approximately 150 agents, LWC’s Office of Unemployment Insurance (UI) is the most recent to take advantage of the State’s cloud contact centre environment. “We’re excited to have new technology and resources in place to allow us to help the people of Louisiana solve their unemployment needs more quickly and efficiently than ever before,” said LWC Executive Director, Ava Dejoie. “The call centre is a critical component of our agency’s operations and we will continue to strive to find ways to make its services more accessible and beneficial to all.”

LWC aids both employers and employees with issues relating to unemployment benefits, new claims and various other inquiries. Among its many reasons for moving to CCSP was a strong desire to enhance and expedite the overall interaction experience for citizens by limiting hold times for claimants and simplifying self-service navigation. Dashboards provide visibility of agent activity in real-time as well as transparency for the entire contact center operation regarding ongoing performance, wait times, and call volumes.

“We want to ensure that every caller has a positive experience with us as they grapple with the difficulties of joblessness. This is of the utmost importance to our call centre staff,” said Office of Unemployment Insurance (UI) Director Renita Williams. “The satisfaction of our claimants and employers is the driving force behind everything we do and with this new system in place, we have the ability to do just that.”

Since implementing the CCSP-based solution, LWC has improved the overall user experience by providing a streamlined self-service experience with simplified, intuitive navigation and voice prompts for jobseekers and employers. Callers are now greeted with a targeted list of options that omits non-essential information.

CCSP is a multi-tenant, highly scalable platform designed for delivering contact center as a service. Operations become empowered with the flexibility, agility and scalability conducive to growth and meeting increasing demands to deliver on citizens’ expectations. By virtue of its web-based agent interface with built-in IP communication, CCSP eliminates the need for agents to be present on site and its intuitive agent experience simplifies the training of new contact center personnel.

In times of crisis like severe flooding or other natural disasters, the State of Louisiana is empowered to service citizens with home-based agents, the flexibility to easily add new agents, and even create entirely new contact center environments in a matter of hours, instead of multiple weeks.

This flexibility allowed the State to support neighboring gulf coast states to address spikes in the volume of unemployment claims resulting from hurricane damage and weather-related closings. In one case, they added a new contact center, and within 2 days agents were on the phone offering vitally important assistance. Simply put, cloud contact centers bring needed flexibility and scalability to ensure residents have access to information and support.

“The inherent flexibility that end-user organizations realize after deploying cloud contact centre cannot be oversold,” said Jacki Tessmer, VP of Service Provider and Cloud Strategy, Enghouse Interactive. “In locations where severe weather is an ongoing concern, state and local agencies must have the ability to move quickly without incurring exorbitant costs. Contact centre as-a-service offers the flexibility, convenience and reliability that government agencies need to engage constituents, and we are honored by the opportunity to be part of the State of Louisiana’s efforts.”