Swiss Municipality of Root

Swiss Municipality of Root Relies on
innovaphone PBX and myApps from the Cloud

The Swiss municipality of Root, located between Lucerne and Zug in the Rontal valley, has a population of around 5,500. The municipal administration is made up of 5 departments employing more than 50 people. The existing telephone system had become outdated and has now been replaced by a modern innovaphone system from the cloud.

“Good customer service is a key concern of our local government: Our citizens are important and they need a fast and friendly service. This is helped by a modern communication solution that can, for example, clearly show the Presence status of employees,” explains Franz Bucher, Head of Finance and Central Services.

The previous telephone system that had served the Root municipality for many years was no longer able to meet the increased requirements in terms of mobility and flexibility. As a result, those responsible commissioned the Swiss IT service provider swisspro AG with the migration project. The specification profile included the following points, among others:

• Open and scalable system
• Location independent solution
• Softphones and wireless headphones
• Cloud-based communications solution
• Good value for money

In addition, another key point was that the new system had to comply with the strict security regulations put in place by the Root municipality’s IT service provider. This included in particular the requirement that the new communication system should open as few ports as possible on the firewall.

The decision was finally made in favor of an innovaphone PBX with myApps from the cloud: it covers all traditional telephony applications as well as all modern Unified Communications functionalities while offering maximum flexibility and scalability.

The partner company swisspro AG provides the Root municipality with the myApps cloud from a data center operated by swisspro AG itself. With this cloud solution, the Root municipality was free to choose the SIP provider to which the connection is established via innovaphone VoIP gateways, therefore the system does not require external servers. The Session Border Controller (SBC) integrated in the innovaphone PBX reliably protects the municipality’s innovaphone system from Internet attacks.

The employees of the Root municipality wanted increased mobility and the possibility to work from home or on the road. The workstations at the employee’s homes should be fully integrated into the communication environment, offer the same user interface as in the office and meet the high security requirements. With innovaphone myApps, presence, chat, voicemail, call list and the central telephone book are now always available at mobile work stations in the same way and with the same intuitive usability - no matter which device or which location. Municipal employees can use softphones and wireless headsets to make phone calls and hold video conferences easily and comfortably with colleagues and citizens. The innovaphone reverse proxy is an independent component of the innovaphone PBX and serves as a central instance against all incoming attacks from the Internet. It also guarantees that mobile workstations are protected. In total, 30 workstations for administrative staff of the Swiss municipality have been equipped with myApps.

Franz Bucher emphasizes, “We are completely satisfied with the new solution. By switching to the innovaphone system, we have taken a huge step to improve mobility and customer friendliness. Our employees particularly appreciate the clear user interface and the simple presence information. It allows us to deal with citizens’ concerns faster and more precisely than with the previous telephone system.”