The City of Marseille

The communication needs of a large city like Marseille are vast, with numerous challenges. With nearly 12,000 employees, the city's IT infrastructure is enormous. It consists of approximately 6,000 computer workstations and as many telephone workstations spread over 300 sites, including city hall, sector town halls, local municipal offices, technical services, libraries, and museums. Some sites are subject to strict security, like the municipal police headquarters. 

Local authorities must ensure the continuity and quality of public service, adapt to new communications channels to reach the most citizens, navigate changes in working methods and professional practices, and meet security requirements.

The City of Marseille wanted to modernize its entire telephony system by adopting a two-step approach: an iso-functional migration and progressive addition of unified communications services. 

This meant replacing the old analog and digital phones with a new VoIP system that can be controlled by an application but provide similar functionality. It was also essential to add sophisticated telephony features to manage the municipality’s employees’ mobility and meet their collaboration needs. 

And because of the city’s critical services to its citizens, an objective was to achieve no more than two hours of downtime per year.

Mitel and local French partner SPIE ICS were chosen based on price and technical value. 

Mitel and SPIE ICS installed a robust, scalable, and interoperable solution that enabled the municipality to upgrade its phone system and handle an influx of incoming calls, proving beyond reliable during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To manage telephone calls, the municipality implemented the MiVoice 5000 IPBX, redundant across its two data centers, along with its MiVoice 5000 Manager multisite management software, which provides centralized and simplified administration of all equipment and new VoIP handsets. Their Information Systems Department opted for relatively simple devices to facilitate their adoption by all city employees. 

InAttend switchboard was installed to ensure efficient routing of incoming calls, and the MiContact Center platform was selected for Marseille's call and contact centers, including the Allô Mairie service, which assists over 2,000 Marseille’s residents with their administrative procedures every day. 

The MiCollab unified communications application provides agents access to all the call functions of the city's telephone system and allows users to work on the go or at home, a new reality for local authorities but one the city embraces. 

The City of Marseille benefits from all the advantages of IP telephony and continues to fulfill its role with the public at critical times. “Mitel’s ph