A Freedom of Information response has outlined the size of the government’s internal telephone systems.
The FoI confirmed more than 1,000 users are currently configured with voicemail and that hundreds of automated call‑handling tools are in operation across departments.
The Cabinet Office disclosed that government uses 502 Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging mailboxes, while Cisco Unity “does not employ dedicated voicemail boxes”. In total, 1,009 user accounts have voicemail enabled.
Routing Systems
The FoI also shows the extent of automated routing systems used across government. There are 384 auto attendants (system call handlers) and 240 call queues in operation.
Departments are charged a one‑off fee when creating a new call queue, based on the number of agent and supervisor licences required and the remaining duration of the support contract. No recurring charges are directly linked to the service.
Requests for new call queues or auto attendants must be made to the government’s ServiceDesk, part of Government Transformation Services (GTS).
GTS then transfers the request to Manx Telecom via the ITSM platform WebHelpdesk, which governs the procedure.
The FoI confirms that GTS also processes most service requests and incident reports relating to voicemail and other telephony functions, with departments submitting requests by email or telephone.
