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Audioconferencing

Overview

As government organizations face increased workloads and added demands for productivity, Verizon Audioconferencing can help keep a handle on these pressures and the costs associated with them. Audioconferencing can:

  • Reduce travel time and expense
  • Increase your government organization’s "agility" with quicker reaction times to your changing environment
  • Help government organizations provide more flexible work arrangements for their employees
  • Allow government organizations to take advantage of the joint ventures and collaborative projects that increasingly characterize the way business is done today

We offer two service levels incorporating a number of features to help you conduct your meetings more effectively. It doesn't matter when you call -- all features are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Audioconferencing-Standard Service
Our Standard Service is ideal for regulary scheduled calls, such as internal employee meetings or project management meetings. Your Conference Coordinator (or Operator Assistant) frequently monitors your meeting and can be easily recalled for assistance during the meeting. Each participant is greeted by the Conference Coordinator and announced into the call.

Audioconferencing-Unattended Service
Our Unattended Service is designed for the more experienced users who do not require a Conference Coordinator (or Operator Assistant). Each participant first dials a predefined conferencing bridge number and then enters a numeric passcode using a telephone keypad. With this service, you can easily recall a Conference Coordinator, who is available for technical problems, by pressing *0 on the telephone keypad.

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Benefits

Look at the benefits you'll receive when you choose Audioconferencing:

  • Ease of use. Government organizations can phone or fax in reservations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Conference Coordinators handle all the administrative details of setting up the call.
  • High quality. Conference Coordinators are available to make sure you have a high-quality, problem-free line. Coordinators will respond to the "*0" signal during the calls to troubleshoot problems.
  • Reliability. We strive to accomplish a fast call set-up on pre-reserved Audioconferencing calls. Audioconferencing uses our extremely reliable fiber optic network and state-of-the-art bridging equipment.
  • Convenience. Audioconferencing provides several features designed for convenience.
  • Worldwide call centers. Worldwide Audioconferencing is easy with Verizon. We operate call centers in the U.S., London, and Hong Kong. U.S. call centers are located in Cedar Rapids IA, Davenport IA, Chicago IL, and Bethel CT.
  • Value-added training and support. Your Verizon ConferencingSM and Verizon Federal Account Teams will manage your Audioconferencing implementation and provide training where requested.
  • Peace of mind. Your government organization can rely on Verizon Business. Our name is synonymous with quality, attentive customer service, and outstanding support.

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Features

Government organizations may select any combination of the features below at no additional charge. The following list details the features available with Verizon Audioconferencing. Features indicated with (*) are only available with the Standard Service and are not available with Unattended Service.

  • ASAP Calling. Your government organization may not always know in advance when you will need an Audioconferencing call. With Verizon ASAP Calling, a Conference Coordinator will contact all participants and bring them into the Audioconferencing call "ASAP." Simply request an ASAP call when making the reservation. This feature allows government organizations to respond to rapidly changing conditions in their work environment. ASAP Calling is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the calls are set up as capacity permits, usually within 20 minutes after the reservation is made.
  • *Coordinator Request. A conference coordinator is available to fulfill special requests during your call.
  • *Enter & Announce. The conference coordinator will enter and announce each participant into the meeting.
  • Customer Reference Codes. Your government organization can use Customer Reference Codes to identify the calls listed on your Verizon Conferencing invoice by name, number, or a combination of both. You can choose up to 20 alphanumeric characters to denote caller-specific information for accountability purposes. This feature must be ordered when the Audioconferencing account is established.
  • *Listen Only. This feature helps eliminate excessive background noise by placing some participants in a listen-only mode while others are speaking. This feature must be requested when the reservation is made.
  • *Music While On Hold. Participants can listen to music while they are on hold, waiting to enter into the Audioconferencing call.
  • *Roll Call. We can conduct a roll call so that all participants know who else is on the line.
  • *Announce Late Participant. We will announce late participants as they enter your call.
  • Secured Call. This feature provides call privacy by ensuring that confidential conversations will not be overheard or monitored. The Audioconferencing leader controls who enters the call, and will be able to secure and unsecure the call by using their touchtone phone. The leader can then manage the secured portion of the call without Conference Coordinator support. This feature should be requested at the time the reservation is made. The reservationist will provide instructions on how to activate and deactivate this feature.
  • *Tape Playback. With 24 hour advanced notice, the conference coordinator can replay your prerecorded audiocassette as a special audioconference.
  • Standing Reservation. When you know you will have a recurring Audioconferencing call at the same time every day, week, or month, you can eliminate your administrative hassle by making a Standing Reservation for any regularly scheduled call.
  • *Master List. We will maintain a file of your participants who consistently attend a regularly scheduled call.
  • Tone in. Participants will hear a tone when each person enters the Audioconferencing call.
  • Mute/Unmute. Allows participants and/or leaders who may be on a phone without mute capability to mute or unmute themselves by using their touchtone phone.
  • First-In Enunciator. Participants who are the first to join an Unattended Service conference call will hear a recording notifying them that they are the first to join the call.

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Access

Toll Free Meet Me
Toll Free Meet Me® access makes it easy to bring together employees or associates while they are on the road. Government organizations can request a one-time toll-free number for an Audioconferencing call or maintain a specific toll-free number for regularly scheduled Audioconferencing calls. Either way, call participants simply dial the toll-free number. For extra security, participants must provide a pre-assigned passcode to enter into the call.
 
Toll Meet Me
Verizon Conferencing assigns a standard long distance number when your government organization makes the reservation. Participants dial into the Verizon Conferencing Call Center to join the Audioconferencing call, and they are responsible for their own long distance charges. This access method is also available for international participants.
 
Reservations
Before using Verizon Audioconferencing, a user will have established a Verizon Audioconferencing account with their Agency DAR. Once the account has been established, follow these simple steps to set up an Audioconferencing reservation:

Step 1: Make a reservation. Dial the Verizon Business Conferencing Call Center toll-free at 1-877-855-4797.

Step 2: Provide information. Our reservationist will need the following specific information to complete your reservation:

  • Your name and authorization code
  • Name, address, and phone number of conference leader
  • Date and time (specify time zone) and approximate duration of call
  • Number of participants
  • Your address and direct phone number
  • Billing address
  • Cost center codes or department codes, if applicable

Step 3: Select the type of Audioconferencing access.

  • Toll Free Meet Me
  • Toll Meet Me

Step 4: Select features. Inform the reservationist of any special features you need.

Callers receive the Audioconferencing call phone number while they are still speaking to the reservationist. In addition, we can fax confirmation of each reservation, free of charge, to the contact person for verification. Just ask us when you make your reservation.

We can set up an Audioconferencing call on demand (ASAP Calling) or you can make a reservation up to a year in advance. Our reservation desk is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Extending a Conference
Government organizations don't have to worry if the Audioconferencing calls extend beyond the reserved schedule time. We will continue the calls without interruption.

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Network and Technical Specifications

Verizon Conferencing uses the Consolidated Conferencing Reservations System (CCRS) for Audioconferencing. The CCRS provides capabilities for reservations booking, automated telephone number assignment, Audioconferencing bridge scheduling, manual scheduling, automated interfaces to Audioconferencing bridges, fax and e-mail confirmations of reservations, automated batch and real-time worksheet printing, reporting, and more. It also interfaces to multiple billing systems.

CCRS is designed to handle high volumes of on-line transactions, with current peak loads of more than 1,200 new reservations per hour. This system operates on a high-end DEC Alpha computer with full disaster recovery capabilities. It supports simultaneous access by several hundred users (currently nearly 600 users during peak periods), and includes many design features to facilitate high reservations throughput even while utilizing on-line real-time conference scheduling.

CCRS has been designed to handle Audioconferencing bridge networks and telephone assignment schemes of arbitrary complexity - including customer-supplied bridges and telephone numbers - for a global conferencing environment. The system currently supports five call centers, including two foreign locations, and can readily accommodate additional call centers anywhere in the world.

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Customer Support

Implementation
We appreciate how busy your government organization is and realize how important it is to concentrate on daily business activities. That is precisely why we manage your Audioconferencing program for you, from implementation to daily maintenance. We follow a four-step implementation program:

  1. We set up each government organization's account after receipt of an order by the government's authorized DAR.
  2. We provide the assigned authorization code to the DAR for distribution to users who are authorized to schedule calls (name, telephone, fax, and location) within their organization.
  3. We send a package of material to welcome users to Verizon Conferencing and to provide additional information about our service.
  4. We call each government organization personally to field questions on the material and offer our assistance if necessary.

In addition, we hold regular educational Audioconferencing calls to educate your end users, answer any questions, and brainstorm about solutions for any of your government organization's business issues.
 
Audioconferencing Support
The Verizon Business Conferencing Call Center provides customer support for Audioconferencing and is also available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can reach us toll-free at 1-877-855-4797. The Verizon Business Conference Call Center provides:

  • Reservations assistance
  • Assistance in customer roll-out and training
  • Support of conference calls
  • Implementation of unique applications
  • Information regarding conferencing service levels and features
  • Operator Assistance

Our Conference Coordinators take care of the details so you can concentrate on the business at hand. Their responsibilities include:

  • Monitoring your calls for trouble resolution
  • Ensuring the instructions you made at the time of the reservation are carried out

Conferencing Coordinators ensure that all of your instructions, provided at the time of the reservation, are carried out. They also monitor the call when accessed for trouble resolution to maintain outstanding audio quality. Our Conference Coordinators are "on call" to assist the conference leader or other participants at all times.
 
Maintenance and Repair
The average time for repairing any of the Verizon Conferencing bridges is less than four hours. Because of the number of bridges and ports, coupled with our ability to transfer from one bridge to another, any bridge failures that would affect a government organization are limited to as short a time as possible. In the event a bridge fails, we will transfer or reconnect the conference(s) on a different bridge or port, depending on the nature of the outage. In addition, we provide a 24 hour dispatch service and a 24 hour toll-free help line to our Conference Centers. Verizon switch technicians, who have been trained on the equipment and are on-site 24 hours a day, support the bridging equipment. There is, of course, no charge associated with this service.
 
Customer Service for FTS2001 Bridge Services

Verizon Business Customer Service for billing inquiries, invoicing issues, account establishment and other service related issues, provides support for all Verizon Business services and is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Just call us at 1-888-FTS-SVC1 (1-888-387-7821).

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