The client is a large public sector utility in North America that IntelePeer does not name. It is an essential service with tens of millions of end users, and its call centers must stay available during severe weather to handle emergencies such as broken, sparking power lines and gas leaks. The utility answers to government regulators, specifically the Public Service Commission, and had fallen behind on infrastructure updates before engaging IntelePeer.

The utility had reached an inflection point. Its communications infrastructure did not meet regulatory requirements, exposing it to hefty fines, and its equipment badly needed an upgrade. Legacy voice at the front of the contact center could not handle the expectations of modern, often digitally native consumers. New mandates from the Public Service Commission set swift compliance timelines and required the utility to show it could cope with today's conditions and tomorrow's, including climate change and the more frequent storms, drought and wildfires that put critical infrastructure at risk.

Weather was the operational threat. Severe conditions routinely threatened to disrupt call center operations just when tens of millions of customers most needed to report a downed line or a gas leak. The utility needed elasticity to absorb large seasonal call influxes, and it needed a modern, reliable solution in place ahead of winter storms, with IntelePeer targeting implementation by the fourth quarter of 2022.

IntelePeer coalesced the utility's needs into a single automated communications package built on its communications automation platform, specifically SmartFlows. The design pushes redundancy as close to the end user as possible. Using IntelePeer's service provider partnerships, the utility is eliminating legacy networks and moving to a digital solution that connects the entire communications platform.

After initial implementation, IntelePeer is following an agile delivery process: defining key requirements, then moving into development sprints. Testing is central, with quality assurance, user acceptance testing and seasonal readiness testing (SRT). IntelePeer will run two SRTs each year, flooding the utility's system with tens of thousands of concurrent calls to confirm it can handle peak inbound volume and to resolve any issues found. IntelePeer is also identifying what is needed to meet federal requirements, whether additional layers are needed to fine-tune the customer experience, and how to support the utility's remaining knowledge-keepers and client communications throughout the project.

Planned next steps include a visualization layer that gives the utility a single point of view, with dashboards for metrics and KPIs, and support for a consistent customer experience across different CRMs without ripping out existing systems to modernize interface touch points.

• Platform scaled to the utility's expected user load without the usual asset-allocation, provisioning and network-build planning
• Assessment and recommendation completed quickly ahead of the winter storm season
• Two seasonal readiness tests per year will flood the system with tens of thousands of concurrent calls
• Dashboards planned to give the utility a single view of metrics and KPIs
• Consistent customer experience to be maintained across CRMs without ripping out systems