Alabama Department of Revenue Adopts Unify Circuit

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

The Alabama Department of Revenue (DoR) has reportedly adopted the cloud-based Unify (News - Alert) Circuit communications software for video conferencing capabilities across the state.

Unify recently announced that the DoR, which has more than 1,000 employees, has installed Unify at one location, the State Commissioner Julie Magee's office, and plans to continue that installation at a total of 10 sites. As a WebRTC-based product, DoR employees report that Circuit has made it easy to get started with the new platform and engage in virtual face-to-face meetings. Magee noted that the process of drafting bills is now much easier.

“When drafting a bill, we may go through 20 to 30 drafts before it's finalized,” Magee said. “By using Circuit for this process, it keeps everyone aligned and on task, housing all the information our teams need within the system, so it's accessible when people are [on the go]. Thanks to Circuit's Instant Messenger and Guest feature, we've revamped our process to be far more agile which has been attractive to our younger team members.”

Magee said the initial push for Circuit was necessary to replace the department's old communication system. Referred to as “stale and stodgy,” the process of using email, which was once effective, degenerated into short messages that were hard to follow. Each section of the DoR had its own method of making email work alongside actual face-to-face meetings, but busy schedules always got in the way.

Now the Circuit video conferencing and accompanying instant message tools can work as a more effective means of communication between employees in various sections of all department buildings. The DoR also indicated that it will begin using Circuit as a way of training new and existing employees. The new system is also expected to save money because it can cut travel costs by making comfortable interaction possible through video.