Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.)said, “This legislation will bring the federal government into the 21st century. Telework programs implemented in the private sector have increased productivity, improved employee morale and saved operating costs. Increasing the number of federal employees who telework will not only improve their quality of life, but will also take cars off the roads, improve air quality and provide relief to commuters tormented every day by the traffic congestion in our region. Telework is good government policy.”

Only about 5 percent of the federal workforce is currently offered a telecommute option, the new bill will make 62 percent eligible for work from home status. The initial implementation will cost around 30 million but the long term savings will more than make up the startup costs.  

This increased need for hosted access options will have agencies looking for new call center software. Zeacom (News - Alert) has a track record of local government agency contact solutions and most recently implemented its ZCC option for the Capitial District Transit Authority of New York to tremendous results.

According to a case study done on CDTA’s implementation of Zeacom Communication Center,” Every time a winter storm threatened the daily commute, CDTA’s call volume would swell by as much as 200 percent per day. Existing hardware had difficulty handling the increased loads. It was during these weather conditions that CDTA’s own staff had difficulty getting into the office, making it even harder for CDTA to handle the large volume of calls on such days.” Residences of the Albany area know that the winters there can last half the year bringing plenty of inclement weather with them. The CDTA needed a better way for customers to get the service they needed, and ZCC was the answer.

A ZCC based system was developed for the CDTA by VAR Mac Source (News - Alert) (News - Alert) Communications and has dramatically increased the level of customer satisfaction. “Before we used ZCC, only 34 percent of our customers felt it was easy to get through to our call center. Our most recent customer survey indicated that 87 percent now feel it’s easy to reach us.” said Rick Ferris, CDTA’s superintendent of flexible services. ZCC would also allow workers to telecommute via a VPN should the need present itself.

The need for work network access will certainly increase with the expansion of this bill, and with a solid telecommute solution and a background in government agency management, they could be one of the many solutions the Fed turns to in the future.

Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco