First Tuesday in November (FTIN) is doing something no other company in America is doing today. It is providing political campaign managers with a tool that allows them to increase drastically voter turnout on Election Day. FTIN organizes massive amounts of demographic data and merges it with voter populations to identify voters who align with specific candidates. With this information, campaign managers then can target voters for their campaign efforts before Election Day. By then tracking voter activity on Election Day, FTIN knows in real time the second someone votes. Campaign managers using FTIN’s service immediately can deploy valuable resources, such as telephone volunteers, to focus on identified voters who have not voted.

“The more effectively you can reach out to potential voters on election day, the better the chance they will vote,” said David Cerrone, principal, FTIN. But in order to make the most of this real-time voter tracking information, an extremely reliable phone system is required to ensure timely phone conversations with constituents are possible.

Challenge:

Easily integrate a reliable phone system with real-time voter tracking information making it possible for political campaign staffers to call potential voters and encourage them to go to the polls.

Solution:

VocalocityPBX, an Internet phone service and hosted VoIP solution, uses Vocalocity’s leading-edge technology to ensure plug-n-play ease of implementation and use for micro enterprises – companies with less than 20 employees. This approach removes the technology barrier and management headache of on-premises business phone systems, results in a much lower total cost of ownership and alleviates the need for customers to hire IT experts or outside consultants to install and manage their phone systems.

Benefits:

— Quickly and easily integrates with other software-based solutions.

— Eliminates the need for expensive and unsophisticated traditional phone equipment, allowing users to make a high volume of calls over the Internet in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

— Provides a high level of reliability without sacrificing features and flexibility.

Results:

Using an Internet phone service as part of FTIN’s offering was desirable because it would more easily integrate with the company’s technology. Also, it would allow FTIN’s customers to call voters through a desktop computer or wireless laptop equipped with a headset. This approach eliminates the need for additional equipment such as traditional telephones, and with a click-to-talk option, campaign workers can quickly and easily connect over the phone with constituents without having to physically dial a phone number. As FTIN began to examine Internet phone service, said Cerrone, he quickly realized consumer-oriented Internet phone services such as Skype weren’t designed to meet the needs or demands of FTIN’s customers.

“We required a service with a high-level of reliability – one that was up 99.9 percent of the time and could adjust with us depending on fluctuating call volumes,” said Cerrone. “But we also wanted more than just a product. Sales and technical support as well as price were important.”

Cerrone explains he did a great deal of research before reaching a decision on how to best address the communication needs of his customers. “Ultimately, Vocalocity had the right solution at the right price, and that solution quickly and easily integrated with our product. Our customers enjoy it because they can use it anywhere, regardless of the location of the campaign organization, and without having to lug around bulky network hardware,” Cerrone said.

FTIN pairs its voter tracking software with Vocalocity’s software-based Internet phone solution. Such a package allows FTIN customers to make a high volume of calls over the Internet in a cost effective and efficient manner.

Vocalocity removes the technology barrier and management headache associated with traditional phone systems by hosting and maintaining at its locations all the equipment required to make its Internet phone service work seamlessly. FTIN customers benefit in several ways as Vocalocity eliminates the need to purchase complicated and expensive technology or hire IT experts or outside consultants to install and manage a phone system. Additionally, instead of licensing widely-available, off-the-shelf voice software used by some Internet phone companies, Vocalocity’s market-leading technology was developed and innovated in-house. This helps to deliver increased reliability and service quality as well as a solution that easily works with other applications and features.

Cerrone notes that the United States has the lowest voter turnout of any democratic nation. “Our patent-pending technology, though, often results in a 20-to-30-point increase in voter turnout for a particular candidate and those candidates using FTIN’s offering win 90 percent of their elections. Vocalocity’s Internet phone solution helps us to empower campaign workers to effortlessly and rapidly make calls that are a difference maker in elections.”