Avaya, a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, today announced that Iceland 112, the country’s control room for 112 emergency services, has successfully deployed a full-blown contact centre solution based on Avaya Aura to ensure greater resiliency and flexibility, and to provide a platform for the long term.

Iceland 112 is the organisation that handles all emergency calls in Iceland and connects citizens to emergency services anywhere in the country. Established in 1995, it receives upwards of 20,000 calls a month. The company has earned a worldwide reputation as an innovative provider, most notably through its 112 app designed to help locate people in remote areas of the country.

Implemented and designed by Avaya business partner Nyherji, the system, which incorporates Avaya one-X and Avaya call management system with an Avaya Aura backbone, is effectively the front end for all the country’s different emergency services. It provides caller and dispatch services, and handles passing on calls where necessary.

As with all emergency services call centres, downtime is simply not an option: callers need to be able to get through even in the event of natural disasters or major incidents that disrupt normal communications.

Iceland 112 chose the Avaya solution as it not only removed potential points of failure from the service but also helped add flexibility and deliver greater insights through enhanced reporting. Crucially, it also makes integration with client organisations – like the police and fire brigade – far easier and offers richer capabilities for recording and call handling.

With agents now familiar with the new environment, Iceland 112 is now beginning to capitalise on the full potential of the IP platform. A custom 112 smartphone app which plugs in via the Avaya API, for example, is designed to help services find people faster in remote areas, of which there are many in Iceland. Once downloaded, it allows users to effectively check in with Iceland 112, pushing a button to send an SMS with their current GPS location. These messages are stored on a system until an emergency call comes in; when it does, the system matches the caller number with the most recently stored location to give emergency services as accurate a search area as possible.

Quotes
“The Avaya solution was an immediate and tangible improvement on our previous environment as it means that failover is automatic. Previously, if the main switch broke, we had to send an engineer to the switches themselves and physically move the connection. Another advanced feature is around presence: the Avaya system gives the front desk visibility of which agents – or specialists – are available in the building to answer calls. Now, as well as our contact centre, our premises also serve as the national HQ for search and rescue and civil protection, and regional HQ for Reykjavik police and fire services. They’re now all using our phone system. Avaya has been highly resourceful in helping us make that transition, and the result makes my job a lot easier: we have a single system, compatible technology and a single vendor. That has not only taken risk out of our operation but it is also ready to grow with us.”
TOMAS GISLASON, DEPUTY CEO, ICELAND 112