The Social Security Administration has selected Verizon to upgrade and modernize its unified communications and contact center (UC and CC) infrastructure. The initiative is known as the Next Generation Telephone Project, or NGTP.
The goal of the Social Security Next Generation Telephone Project — which covers more than 62,000 employees at 1,300 locations — is to converge three existing systems to provide an enterprise-wide UC and CC infrastructure.
NGTP is part of SSA’s IT modernization program, which includes “complete operational support services” such as management, maintenance, training, help desk, network operations center, security, recording and analytics.
The Verizon platform will enable more effective analysis of operations and improve customer experience across in-person, video, phone and online channels, according to the company. Verizon also will help SSA replace its 800 number teleservice platform, which supports more than 10,000 agents and field office employees.
Avaya will serve as Verizon’s delivery partner for the core infrastructure. The press release has no information on price, timelines or other details.
“Verizon has a long history of supporting the missions of the Social Security Administration, including helping to enable SSA’s digital transformation through citizen-friendly business systems,” Andrés Irlando, the senior vice president and president of Public Sector and Verizon Connect at Verizon, said in a press release about the Social Security Next Generation Telephone Project. “We are proud to partner with the SSA to enable and serve the 65 million Americans who rely on its services.”
Verizon has positioned itself to help organizations deal with their customer contact center initiatives and has made artificial intelligence part of the mix.
The carrier has made at least two AI-based contact center moves. In January 2019, Verizon launched Digital CX, which uses AI and is aimed at large businesses. The service facilitates personalized experiences based on past interactions across social media, chat, email, text and phone.
The carrier and Google announced a pilot of Google Cloud Contact Center Artificial Intelligence in July. The system uses natural language recognition, faster processing and real-time access to customer insights to shorten call times and expedite issue resolution and dissemination of product information.
