IRS reveals potential scope of cloud play
Judging by responses to vendor questions about an RFI, the IRS is thinking big about cloud-based customer service tools.
WHAT: Cloud-based customer service for tax filers.
WHY: As previously noted in this blog, the IRS is conducting market research on cloud-based voice and analytics tools, to improve wait time and service at the agency's notoriously overtaxed customer service call centers. To go by responses to questions posed by vendors in response to a recent request for information, the IRS appears to be thinking big. They are interested in a system that can support 12,000 concurrent IRS users, handling 55,000-plus calls during peak hours. The system would be deployed across 38 separate locations.
Primarily, the IRS is looking for capabilities to record and perform analytics on customer calls, for the purpose of improving customer service. Currently, the IRS is looking for a software-as-a-service tool to support voice, but could be looking to bring in chat and email in the future. The cloud-based system would have to interoperate with the automated call processing and routing systems already in place at IRS, including Cisco and Aspect ACD. The IRS isn't going to hold an industry day for the market research – it's going to invite vendors who qualify to run a live demonstration of their solution.