Bell Canada has landed a major contract that will see the telecommunications provider overhaul several of the largest government of Canada call centres.

This contract will see Bell along with Genesys, a provider of cloud-based customer experience and contact centre solutions, modernize contact centres for: Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC); the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA); and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

“The contract is focused on modernizing federal contact centres that Canadians rely on most often to access government services,” a Bell Canada spokesperson wrote in an email to TechNX when contacted about the contract. “Together, these services represent some of the government’s most important points of contact with the public.”

Bell will be responsible for deploying and managing the solution, while Genesys will provide the cloud‑based contact centre platform.

“The platform, Genesys Cloud, offers a secure and consistent foundation for contact centre operations across departments and is hosted in Canada to support data sovereignty guidelines,” the spokesperson said. “Genesys brings global expertise in contact centre technology, while Bell contributes deep experience delivering secure, large‑scale solutions for governments in Canada.”

Reducing wait times, improving customer service

Genesys has worked on similar call centre modernizations for state governments in the U.S. The State of Missouri began modernizing its call centres during the COVID-19 pandemic as demand for services increased and strained legacy systems. The state’s 92 legacy call centres were reduced to 33 more efficient centres, according to Genesys, which said call centre wait times were reduced by 53 per cent. 

“The Genesys Cloud platform is the State of Missouri’s first enterprise cloud journey and was a great success,” said Gov. Mike Parson in 2024 on the state’s work with Genesys. “The state is now considered a leader in call centre transformation and other states are reaching out to model Missouri’s leadership in customer service and innovation.”

The Bell spokesperson added AI-enabled capabilities in the Genesys Cloud platform "will help manage and route large volumes of service requests more intelligently, while giving departments better insight into how services are being used."

The rollout of the solutions will be over several years. Bell was unable to say what the timelines will be for the program, only that the work “will be coordinated with Shared Services Canada and participating departments.”

"We're proud to partner with Shared Services Canada to bring a modern, cloud-first solution to the Government of Canada,” said Costa Pantazopoulos, VP, product at Bell in a release that announced the contract. “This transformation is all about people, ensuring the Government of Canada is best placed to deliver innovation that supports Canadians in the moments that matter most."

"Modernizing public service delivery requires intelligent orchestration across every channel. With Genesys Cloud, the Government of Canada is building a secure, AI-powered foundation that unifies engagement, enables real-time insights and drives more responsive, resilient service experiences for Canadians," added Michael Wiesblatt, VP and country manager, Canada with Genesys in the same release.