City's new phone system to save money

Tucson began installing the new voice over Internet protocol system, or VOIP, a year and a half ago, but a "full rollout" will be completed by the fall, said Carl Drescher, a city information technology administrator.

Drescher said the city expects to recoup the $1.5 million it cost to buy and install the system in four years. After that, the $375,000 annual savings would go toward improving the city's bottom line.

The new phone system will also improve service for residents, said Deputy City Manager Mike Letcher.

The city will not only save the money on the cost of the phone service, but also will save on future upgrades because the city will have one phone system instead of the 120 switches it had before, Drescher said.

"Every single department had its own phone switch," Drescher said, meaning there were 120 hubs where calls came in and got routed to a destination.

With the new system, Drescher said, the city will have only one main switch where calls come in plus a backup switch in case of a failure. That means one technological update will cover all the phones used by the city's 6,000 employees.

Letcher said "better phone service for departments means better service for the public."

Because some of the city's 120 phone hubs used antiquated technology, some departments are getting voicemail for the first time, Drescher said. In addition, he said, some departments were unable to forward their calls to other departments because of the old technology.

City employees will also have a Web-enabled online directory where they can call up any person's name who works for the city and call their number with the push of a button. Some companies also use the new system's features to send out daily messages to the organization or to put out travel reports with weather and road conditions, Drescher said.

It will also save money on phone transfers within the city system, he said. All the city has to do is unplug the phone and plug it in at the new location, instead of paying for phone lines to be installed or uninstalled when employees move.

Drescher said he could move his phone from the Information Technology building Downtown to Eastside City Hall on East Speedway, and the phone system would recognize the move and route calls there automatically. TMC Net