Case Study: Cerro Gordo County achieves reliable communications and rapid ROI with Avaya IP Office

Northern Iowa County Government Agency Looks to Avaya for Reliable Communications Solution

Cerro Gordo County, a Northern Iowa government agency serving about 43,000 residents, faced a failing, poorly maintained phone system that drove up maintenance costs and put courthouse and law enforcement communications at risk. Director of IT Ken Bahls needed a reliable, easy-to-manage solution with failover to ensure business continuity for mission-critical services.

Bahls and his five-person IT team deployed Avaya IP Office with partner Carrier Access IT to support 200 users across the courthouse and law enforcement complex. The new system delivered immediate ROI (five years of maintenance cost less than one year on the old system), automatic failover, simpler administration, and greater reliability—freeing IT to focus on strategic projects—and offers scalable, feature-rich capabilities like mobile twinning, instant messaging, and broader unified communications.

Cerro Gordo County

Ken Bahls

Director of IT