Google supports unemployment website of NY. Image Courtesy – https://www.nydailynews.com
Newly unemployed people found it hard to apply for benefits to the government. So, Google tried to develop the website in a better way during coronavirus pandemic. Google’s cloud infrastructure has been utilized to develop the government of New York’s online application page for unemployment benefits.
The New York state government declared a partnership with few technology-based companies to improve the system, but it went offline for a couple of hours on Thursday evening. Now it has been declared to be capable to bear higher load of traffic.
In the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands of released New Yorkers have tried to apply for unemployment benefit, but a large number of applicants experienced system crashes that made them frustrated.
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New York has been the worst hit by coronavirus pandemic, and the entire America has experienced a flow of unemployment claims that created a huge pressure on the systems to handle their applications. There were 6.6 million applications for unemployment benefit filed nationwide only in the last week.
The website for unemployment benefits application also got the ability to save incomplete applications. In case a user needs to step out and again come back in a later time, it should work seamlessly on various devices like smartphones, tablets etc. Eventually, the press release committed for well-organized experience with fewer questions to answer. Deloitte is opening a large-scale call centre with Google in this strive. Verizon is also trying to increase the capacity of call centres.
Impact of COVID-19: New York has been severely affected by the pandemic, with a large number of confirmed cases and deaths. The virus was circulating in New York City as early as February 2020, and by the end of March, it had become the worst-affected area in the US.
Unemployment Crisis: The pandemic led to a massive surge in unemployment claims across the nation, with 6.6 million applications filed in a single week. This created immense pressure on existing systems.
Technological and Service Solutions:
- Website Improvements: The unemployment benefits application website was enhanced to allow users to save incomplete applications and resume them later from various devices, such as smartphones and tablets. The goal was to provide a more streamlined and “well-organized experience with fewer questions.”
- Call Center Expansion: To address the overwhelming volume of calls, both Deloitte and Verizon are working to expand call center capacity. Deloitte is partnering with Google to open a large-scale call center, and Verizon is also increasing its own call center capabilities. This is a crucial step to provide assistance to the large number of people seeking unemployment benefits.
