Cost Effective Telephone Services Initiative

The Cost-effective Telephone Services initiative is led by Shared Services Canada (SSC) on behalf of the Government of Canada. This initiative will contribute to a modern Public Service workplace and significantly reduce the overall cost of telecommunications for the Government of Canada

What is the initiative about?

As part of the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan (EAP), Shared Services Canada (SSC) is working with its 43 partner organizations to migrate from traditional desktop phones to cellular service or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)*, where possible. In parallel, unused desktop phone lines will be removed further contributing to our savings.

What are the benefits of migrating to cellular?

As more employees rely on wireless technology to support their day-to-day business needs, the requirement to maintain both a traditional desktop telephone line and a cellular device for each employee is redundant and costly.

The migration from traditional desktop telephones to cellular devices is responding to employee needs for mobility tools and is aligned with the Government of Canada’s Workplace 2.0 initiative, which seeks to create a modern workplace to enable public servants to work in an even more effective way.

What kind of savings will this initiative achieve?

Cellular telephone service costs are currently less than 25 percent of the cost of desktop telephone service.  By 2015 and at full take up, the Cost-effective Telephone Services initiative is expected to generate approximately $28.8 million in ongoing annual savings

How will these changes be introduced?

The transition to cellular will not happen all at once. The initiative will be rolled out in phases, with specific targets to be achieved during its three-year implementation. SSC will work with individual departments and agencies on their own migration plans to ensure the pace of change/migration is suited to their business needs.

* Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology consists of a single network that is used to carry a combination of voice, video and data traffic.