Georgia Environmental Protection Division embraces resiliency and flexibility with Zoom Phone

Within Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) lies the Environmental Protection Division (EPD), a group charged with protecting Georgia’s land, air, and water resources. From regulating emissions to waste management to restoring water resources, the EPD works with local governments, industries, and farmers to protect Georgia’s environment. The state authority enforces laws that regulate public and private facilities, with Steven Miles, director of information technology, leading these efforts from a technology standpoint.

Responsible for upgrading a dated video communications solution and enabling flexible work for the department, Steven turned to Zoom Meetings, eventually expanding to Zoom Phone and Zoom Webinars. 

From disparate solutions to one interface 

Back in 2019, Steven had to cobble together two solutions to enable virtual meetings for the EPD. And while one of them claimed to be “free video conferencing,” it was anything but that. 

“We were spending about $30,000 plus a year on just conference calls for our small agency, and our division is not very big,” Steven said. “Our staff was not familiar with the navigation of how to use that service, so there were all these overage charges because of call idling.” 

Their phone system wasn’t much better. “We had a decentralized phone system, it was a combination of lines from AT&T and Avaya systems,” Steven noted. This disparate structure meant processes had to remain manual. “We had to keep spreadsheets of who was assigned to what number because there was no system to track when people were off and onboarded, no centralized contact list or directory,” he added.

Steven’s hunt for a new solution didn’t last too long. After a few proof-of-concepts with Cisco and Webex and months of testing, Georgia’s EPD went with Zoom Meetings. Deployment — which clocked in at only two weeks — was paired with training sessions that shed light on important security controls. “We showed [employees] Zoom’s available security features — not allowing meetings to be forwarded, having attendees authenticate with the Zoom account.”

The training was effective, to say the least. “We’ve never had anyone attend a meeting who was not supposed to. It’s only the people required and requested to be there — no stowaways at all.” 

But Steven didn’t want security to stop there.“We enabled strong password requirements and expiring passwords. We wanted to take it a step further by securing the entire app by enabling two-factor authentication for logging into accounts, just to make sure that staff had that reassurance,” he said. “We also use spam filtering; a lot of phishing happens over the phone these days.”

With the right controls in place, it was smooth sailing from there for the EPD. “Because the platform is really easy to use, we didn’t have any problems when we went live.”

Embracing flexibility and agility with Zoom Phone

Phone was a little different for the EPD. While the agency originally preferred traditional VoIP systems, the onset of the pandemic changed that. 

“When we went remote, there was no problem transitioning our public hearing meetings to Zoom Meetings, but we did have a problem if a constituent or a community member called our offices,” Steven reflected. “Not everyone had an agency-issued phone, and they didn’t know everyone’s numbers.” 

Craving more flexibility, the EPD piloted Zoom Phone throughout 2020 and found its bandwidth optimization feature helped prove its value. “There are some people who live in rural areas — there’s not the highest availability of bandwidth — but the pilot program showed us the system performed in those areas.” From there, the EPD worked with Zoom’s Professional Services team to test, configure, and port over 733 numbers, which was all done remotely for 10 locations throughout the state.”

Zoom Phone came as a welcome reprieve from EPD’s previously stitched-together solution. “We had a few phone solutions cobbled together — a separate solution for voice calling, one for voicemails, and so on. So [with Zoom Phone] we got a lot of positive staff feedback that they didn’t have to sign into a whole other platform just to get voicemails or set greetings because they’re going to be out of the office for a day.”

Better connections with colleagues and constituents

Connecting with the public

Similar to other state and local agencies, EPD found that keeping public hearings virtual meant better attendance. “Once we started using Zoom Meetings and Webinars, attendance skyrocketed … we’re talking about people throughout the state joining. “In fact, leadership has made the decision that Zoom Meetings will be the primary method of future public meetings for the agency. That’s not to say that EPD won’t have future in-person public meetings but the default moving forward will be via Zoom,” Steven said. “These actually helped with compliance efforts for the Freedom of Information Act.”

Finding resiliency with phone

“In 2022, state government leaders saw that many state agencies were working from home, doing it well, and being productive. As a result, state leadership, in conjunction with the Georgia legislative leaders, asked if agencies would consider shrinking their real estate footprint,” Steven said. The EPD has embraced flexible work ever since. “Nearly all of our employees working in the two Atlanta offices come into the office as necessary for reasons of equipment needs, mail processing, and package handling.

He said this approach to work makes the agency more resilient in the face of change, hearkening back to 2014’s “snowmageddon” in Atlanta that posed major challenges to business continuity. “I think a benefit also by implementing Zoom Phone is that inclement weather doesn’t stop our business anymore. Prior to implementing Zoom Phone, someone had to be in the office to get the call. Now, it doesn’t really impact us the way it used to. We’re still able to conduct the business without skipping a beat because we have such a versatile platform. Zoom Phone allows us to be able to be anywhere and work like we’re in an office.”

Building stronger bonds

Even though most of the EPD’s staff isn’t in the same room anymore, they still feel connected. “I think the meeting platform has really aided in assimilating most workers to being away from the office. They can get on video, see someone and talk with them like they’re next door,” Steve said. 

“You foster a good working relationship in a remote capacity because you’re able to get on and see each other and read those nonverbals, read the body language. Because you don’t lose that element, you still retain the ability to be a good work buddy.”

A flexible future 

Since the staff at EPD are not physically in the office every day, they’re looking into organizing those efforts potentially through workspace reservation. “When staff do need to come into the office, we need a way to show them what work areas are available for use. So we’re working to implement workspace reservation to be able to accommodate or satisfy that need,” Steven noted.

They’re hoping to apply the same logic to EPD vehicles, too. “We have a fleet of vehicles that you must go into the office to reserve and sign out for use that is currently being managed in a paper binder. I could see workspace reservation potentially being used for that purpose,” he added.

Whether the agency needs to reserve a vehicle online or just connect with constituents, the EPD views Zoom’s unified communications platform as an essential resource. “With Zoom, everything can be done in one platform, you don’t have to sign in and out of a bunch of different modules or apps. Everything is available and can be managed there,” Steven said. “Having communication tools offered in such a scalable and secure way make a worthwhile investment.” 

“I think there’s a good reason why Zoom has become the de facto standard when it comes to virtual meetings. You put the customer first in how you design and deliver your services, so it makes it easier for me to deploy and my users to adopt it,” Steven added.