For employees without internet access, mobile hotspots and cellular-enabled tablets can help secure primary connectivity. Content-filtering JetPacks can also help students stay connected to lesson plans, even in locations without internet access. These deliver enhanced protective measures by only allowing access to websites with educational content.
For universities that need to establish distance-learning quickly, consider setting up a hotline using IP toll-free access to a virtual mailbox. This gives students, parents, and staff a convenient way to get updates. Interactive voice response capabilities can also alleviate taxed resources by directing urgent calls to the right people.
In addition to supporting a remote workforce, federal and state agencies face the challenge of expanding operations to provide support for government-sponsored programs launched to support emergency needs. This caused a shortage of computers, contact center agents, and other infrastructure components.
Finding available resources can be challenging, but not all staff will need the latest and greatest technology. Look for easily deployable tools that integrate well with your existing solutions.
Serve and protect with increased security measures
There are a wide range of different use cases and security levels for managing different devices. And not everyone knows how to access internal data securely. Hackers recognize this weakness and actively are exploiting it.
Most agencies have virtual private networks (VPNs) but current systems may not be designed to handle the high volume of remote employee traffic or malware attacks. Traditional VPN systems also don’t address the risk of introducing malware through insecure remote worker systems or denial of service malware attacks.
That’s why validating the organization’s security ability to deflect attacks is especially critical right now, as is maintaining network availability for remote users who have critical duties to fulfill. This is particularly critical for first responders and medical professionals who work in some of the most challenging environments and they need a secure, reliable way to collaborate with dispatch as well as each other.
Keep calm and on-call
The sudden shift to home-based agents is challenging for many government contact centers, as they work to meet the needs of both the general public and their internal workforces, while handling an exponential increase in call volumes.
Contact center solutions can help agencies stand up new capabilities in a short amount of time. They can leverage call routing with simple scripting and provide messaging to keep employees and the public informed on hot topics. All it takes is a 10-digit phone number and an internet connection to transform a home office into a virtual contact center.
Other digital customer experience capabilities can go virtual through online automated digital chatbots using AI and machine learning. These services help reduce capacity constraints on traditional contact centers and enable users to get the help they need to access services and complete transactions without having to speak to a live agent.
Focus on the present to stay ready for the future
Implement solutions today to support your workforce of tomorrow. Transform your business model now to leverage scalable, secure cloud based solutions and collaboration options increasing your agility to adapt and succeed going forward.
We stand ready to partner, collaborate, and assist you to help you continue to serve your constituents during this unprecedented time and beyond.