Case Study: United Way of Connecticut achieves award-winning 8-second 988 answer time and rapid 25→300 agent scaling with NICE Systems' CXone

United Way of Connecticut Builds Award-Winning 211 Contact Center with NICE CXone

United Way of Connecticut runs the state’s 211, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and the Care4Kids contact center, connecting callers to critical services. Faced with a surge in demand during COVID‑19 and the federal rollout of 988, the nonprofit had to rapidly scale operations (from 25 to 300 agents in two weeks), meet strict answer-time mandates, and provide reliable reporting to government stakeholders.

Using NICE CXone’s cloud platform—easy dashboards, queue‑callback and flexible scheduling—United Way quickly onboarded remote agents, managed peak volumes, and tightened forecasting. The result: an award‑winning contact center that answers most 988 calls in under 10 seconds, handles ~430,000 calls annually, supports hybrid work, and produces the detailed reporting needed to demonstrate impact and secure funding.

United Way of Connecticut

Lisa Tepper Bates

Chief Executive Officer