TELUS Ramps Up Service with SOLEO IP Relay

Background

TELUS is a Canadian telecommunications company that utilizes SOLEO’s solutions to provide Directory Assistance and other services to end users in Canada and the United States. In response to a CRTC (Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission) mandate, SOLEO worked with TELUS to develop a solution for an Internet-based (IP) Relay Service.

TELUS presented SOLEO with challenges that needed to be addressed in order to meet the new service requirements. First, TELUS had to maintain the information used to verify legitimate users of the Relay Service. SOLEO had to develop real-time interfaces to these databases to validate the users. As well, when a deaf or hard or hearing customer accessed the service via a Web enabled device, a new type of call processing model had to be implemented to control TELUS’s automated call distribution (ACD) environment. Finally, unlike the user interface of a traditional (IM) instant message chat service where blocks of text are displayed e.g. AOL, the ergonomics of the service required that each character typed by the customer or the agent be displayed to the other party on a real time basis.

SOLEO Solution

Working in close collaboration, TELUS deployed SOLEO’s IP Relay solution in two geographically diverse locations to serve the Canadian market. These two locations are interconnected to back each other up in order to achieve a high level of service reliability. SOLEO’s IP Relay Solution successfully enables deaf or hard of hearing customers with the ability to interact with a TELUS agent using any Internet-enabled device. The TELUS agent then interacts with hearing customers and relays information from one to the other.

Results

Since implementing this solution in 2010, TELUS has had a steady increase in the use of its service.