AIS™ Overview
Citizens routinely call local jails of all sizes and the questions are often the same. Is he there? What are her charges? How much is his bond? Where do I post bond? When can I visit her? When is his Court date? Where will Court be held? When will she be released? How do I get to the jail? How do I send money? How do I send mail? When can I pick up property? Anyone that has worked a day in a jail is all too familiar with these repetitive questions. And today’s information age citizens expect prompt answers anytime, anyplace.
If this barrage of inquiries were not enough, today’s local government budgets and staffing resources are impossibly tight and no agencies are being squeezed harder than jails. Consequently, dedicating staff to address routine citizen phone calls is rarely an option and staff members find themselves answering repetitive phone calls while simultaneously performing other tasks such as addressing booking, release and lobby walk-up traffic. Accuracy suffers and the media pounces on opportunities to spotlight errors. Though cost effective civilian staff are sometimes deployed, overflow too often hits expensive officer staff whose time is much better spent ensuring the safety and security of the facility, or even patrolling streets, then spending their days and nights answering the same mundane questions over and over and over.
Automated Information Services (AIS™) is a hosted or “Cloud” based voice response platform specifically designed for local jails. Thanks to advances in cloud computing and a few savvy jail administrators who decided that there must be a better way, facilities of all sizes can now leverage enterprise grade voice response services previously reserved for the largest agencies and corporations.
The concept of AIS™ is simple: re-direct citizen phone calls placed to local jails across the country to a centralized server farm (“the Cloud”); automate as many calls as possible by addressing common requests; transfer the remaining calls to the appropriate facilities for staff assistance; allocate the system and transport costs across numerous facilities instead of just one.
The results of AIS™ are staggering. On average, AIS™ automates over 80% of all citizen calls placed to local jails. That leaves an average of less than 20% of citizen calls that still require staff assistance. With facilities averaging approximately ½ call per day per inmate, The Return-on-Investment from AIS™ is substantial, immediate, and easily measured for facilities of all sizes.
Sound interesting? There’s much more - please give us a call and tell us about your facility and its unique challenges.
Our deputies love it, so I love it. We’re now saving over two officer’s worth of time!
Jailers
Anyone that has worked a day in a jail is familiar with what we call the “Multi-Task-Twist” or “MTT” for short. The MTT is a three part move involving simultaneously typing or clicking on a desktop computer, addressing a walk up visitor (IE: Booking or Lobby) AND answering a phone call (typically shoulder supported). While the move is impressive, is it any wonder that booking errors and security breaches are widely publicized issues? And is it any wonder that citizen complaints of busy signals, long holds or no answers is business as usual at many facilities?
Meanwhile, lawmakers are executing deep spending cuts and slashing headcounts that leave most Jails understaffed. The argument is that “some pain now is better than much more later,” but tell that to the Jailer in the midst of an MTT with a report deadline quickly approaching. 
And to make matters worse, most citizen phone calls are repetitive. One staff member at an East Coast Mega Jail remarked that her job sometimes felt like the movie “Groundhog Day”— it was the same questions over and over again in a maddening, frustrating way.
Telerus AIS™ automates an average of 80% of citizen phone calls placed to jails. This benefits jailers as follows.
- Relieves staff of the mundane “busy work” of answering the same routine questions over and over… improves staff morale.
- Improves focus and accuracy in areas beyond citizen phone calls.
- Less stressful work environment – the constant background of phones ringing essentially disappears.
- Conserves staff time for more complicated tasks and projects that can’t be automated, such as those requiring critical thinking and subjective determinations. Less waste of every Jail’s most precious resource.
- Ensures that all citizen calls are answered within three rings with a pleasant greeting offering quick and easy access to inmate and jail information. Capacity for thousands of simultaneous calls means every citizen receives a consistent answer 24/7.
- Automatically provides inmate case and facility information in Spanish without a Spanish speaking staff member or translator.
- Fewer citizen complaints and protests – information is more readily available and less frequently debated than when presented by a staff member.
- Fewer citizen long winded stories and appeals for leniency that consume staff time.
Sound interesting? There’s much more - please give us a call and tell us about your facility and its unique challenges.
Our civilian receptionist used to be chained her desk just answering phone calls. Now, she can actually focus on other tasks.
Sheriffs
Modern Sheriffs know that the first part of the old law enforcement motto “to serve and protect” has taken on new meaning in recent years. Today’s voting citizens expect consistently prompt service and are especially demanding when dealing with the stressful process of an arrested loved one. Answering citizen phone calls as time permits is no longer acceptable to citizens, the media, lawmakers, other agencies, or Sheriffs themselves. But the traditional remedy to improve citizen service by increasing headcount is fantasy for the many Sheriffs across the nation struggling to just keep headcounts static in the wake of unprecedented budget cuts. AIS™ is providing Sheriffs across the nation a practical solution to maximize the productivity of their current staffs and provide citizens the quality service they deserve. Sheriffs that have approved AIS™ are getting pats on the back for the following reasons.
- An average of 80% of all citizen phone calls to the jail are automated… immediate relief for understaffed facilities and impossibly tight budgets.
- Citizen calls are consistently answered within three rings with a pleasant greeting offering quick and easy access to inmate and jail information. These same citizens are likely to influence bids for re-election.
- Fewer distractions and improved focus from staff on the safety and security of the facility. This results in fewer mistakes in booking, release, and supervision and less criticism from the Media and others.
- Less stressful work environment – the constant background of phones ringing essentially disappears and staff morale improves.
- Conserves staff time for more complicated tasks and projects that can’t be automated, such as those requiring critical thinking and subjective determinations. Less waste of every Sheriff’s most precious resource – his people.
Sound interesting? There’s much more - please give us a call and tell us about your jurisdiction and its unique challenges.
AIS™ has drastically reduced the need for staff to handle calls from the public. The automated system has streamlined inmate information access which has had adirect effect on our operational efficiency.
Local Government Administrators
There has been no shortage of publicity lately for the challenge of local government administrators with budgetary responsibility. With property tax collections down, government administrators are being tasked to be the “bad guys” and slash budgets by seemingly impossible proportions. Correctional Facility and/or Jail budgets comprise sizable chunks of most local budgets and even though public safety related expenditures are generally regarded as prudent and necessary, effective government officials are scrutinizing their expenses line by line.
Years ago, Voice Automation for Jails would have been an extravagance; today it is a necessity. Thanks to recent advances in Cloud computing and dramatic drops in costs of ownership, Voice Automation now produces positive ROIs for local agencies much smaller than the large state, federal and private enterprises that have leveraged the technology for decades. Voice Automation is most effective in environments with high volumes of requests for similar information. Since Jail phones usually ring off the hook with the same questions about inmates and facility policies, automation rates are phenomenal.
On average, Jails receive approximately ½ call per inmate per day. As a result, a 500 bed jail can be expected to receive 250 phone calls per day and 91,250 calls per year. With an average handling time of 4 minutes, that’s 365,000 minutes or 6,083 staff hours expended manually answering citizen phone calls. With a conservative “all-in“ cost of $15 per hour, the expense is over $90,000 per year. On average, AIS™ automates over 80% of citizen phone calls. In this example, that would mean gross savings over $72,000! And with the low monthly cost of AIS™, the net savings are not much less. Does that pique your interest? If so, please allow us to prepare a detailed ROI forecast for your facility.
If it weren’t for AIS™, we would have had to dedicate another person to keep up with the calls and I’m not sure where we would have found the resources to do that.
Citizens
Ever deal with the stressful process of an arrested loved one? You are not alone and more citizens have than readily admit it. While learning that a loved has been arrested can be traumatic in and of itself, an inability to obtain relevant information can make a bad situation worse. Much worse.
In today’s information age, it is not acceptable for public agencies to subject taxpaying citizens to busy signals, extended holds, or no answers. While budget cuts are a necessary reality, citizens are still entitled to receive timely answers to basic questions such as those relating to charges, bonds, visitation, court dates, release dates, and facility policies.
Voice Automation systems allow citizens to serve themselves quickly and easily. Until recently, however, the systems were too complicated and expensive for all but the largest corporations and agencies. AIS™ is a voice automation platform that helps jails answer all citizen calls within three rings while saving the facility and its supporting taxpayers money.
Have you had trouble getting through to one of your local jails? Please tell us about it.
