Community Voice Mail Honored With CECP Directors Award For Innovative Use of Cisco Technology

February 25, 2008

By Terry Timm Moos, News@Cisco

When a great idea takes hold, there are no limits to the possibilities. Such is the case with Community Voice Mail, an innovative organization that today received the prestigious Directors Award from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), the only international forum of business CEOs and Chairpersons pursuing a mission focused exclusively on corporate philanthropy.

Community Voice Mail (CVM) is the only service in the US that provides free, personalized telecommunications access to people in crisis and transition, extending across 420 municipalities to 2,100 community agencies. Its 24-hour voice mail access empowers over 41,000 clients annually to reliably and confidentialy communicate with prospective employers, landlords, medical providers, case managers, and family members.

"Cisco is very proud to be a strategic partner with Community Voice Mail, and this award is well-deserved," said Michael Yutrzenka, Director, Public Benefit Investment. "Community Voice Mail has been a major social investment for Cisco," he said. "It is perhaps the most extensive investment of Cisco corporate resources ever extended to a nonprofit organization, resulting in tremendous process improvements and increased service offerings-really an extraordinary use of our core competence," said Yutrzenka. "Community Voice Mail has demonstrated how they have successfully used Cisco's resources to increase their impact, and we fully expect they will continue to be a model for other non-profit organizations."

Cisco's extensive support has enabled CVM to increase its reach, capacity, and social value. Through funding, hardware and software solutions, office space, and personnel to help with technology and training, Cisco has helped Community Voice Mail achieve its important initiatives of supporting individuals in need.

Technology improvements allowed for more community outreach

Early Community Voice Mail technology included a computer, analog phone lines, and separate databases for each of the 32 CVM sites-but no one with technical expertise. As the systems aged, they were routinely malfunctioning, leaving the site manager little time for community outreach. With no supply of upgraded equipment, CVM faced extinction, despite a growing number of requests from community leaders interested in replicating the program.

When VoIP technology became available, CVM partnered with Cisco to develop its own centralized voicemail system, which reduced costs by 22 percent during the first year alone. VoIP helped CVM extend beyond local calling areas, allowing scaling in large cities and rural areas. Cisco's technology allows CVM to broadcast critical information to all CVM users, including job listings, emergency weather reports, and availability of community resources.

According to Jennifer Brandon, Executive Director for CVM, headquartered in Seattle, Cisco employees were instrumental in helping the organization move ahead. "Cisco volunteers were unbelievable visionaries in seeing what was possible for us."

Cisco developers and software testers worked with CVM to customize the product, volunteering hundreds of hours to devise solutions for the needs of CVM's unique clients. "Cisco had the ideas and the equipment, and could centralize and customize communications systems for us-which allowed us to focus more on what we do best-community outreach," Brandon added.

Community Voice Mail Expands Swiftly

CVM has recently expanded voice mail access to seven cities, including Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Austin, Ft. Worth, Denver, Orlando, and Tulsa. "In the past, it took at least six months to set up services in a new city," explained Brandon. "We needed to get a system, configure it, order services from the telephone company, deal with limits and restrictions, ship, install, and manage training. "Using centralized Cisco technology, we can cut the time to a little over a month, once we get funding set up in the cities," she said. "And we can use Cisco's meeting place technology to help train people."

"Our partnership with Cisco has enabled us to develop a state-of-the-art telecommunications system that serves our network of over 2,100 social service providers in the US," added Brandon. CVM is developing strategic partnerships to integrate CVM into social service systems to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. This effectiveness was demonstrated after Hurricane Katrina's destruction.

"We learned about the power of focused leadership and corporate leverage to help survivors," noted Brandon. In four days, more than 100 Cisco employees, working with CVM, built, tested and activated thousands of voicemail boxes, which CVM then distributed. This was a collaborative process-AT&T donated toll-free numbers, FedEx/Kinko's reproduced instruction cards, and Red Cross representatives worked to build CVM into future disaster relief efforts.

"We see ourselves as a catalyst for change and progress. CVM has the capacity to serve more people across the US with the potential of growing globally," Brandon said. "Because of the grant, we have achieved so much, and the results have been great."

About the CECP Excellence Awards

CECP created the Directors Award in 2004 to recognize a nonprofit organization that has distinguished itself by building an effective partnership with a company in its community. The Directors Award includes a $25,000 cash donation made by CECP Directors to the honored nonprofit. In addition to Community Voice Mail's award this year for excellence in corporate partnerships, CECP also recognizes companies demonstrating outstanding CEO leadership, innovation, dedication to measurement, and partnership in corporate philanthropy. Cisco won the prestigious CECP corporate award in 2005.

Terry Timm Moos is a freelance journalist located in Seattle, WA.