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EC1
EC1 New Deal for Communities
(NDC) is one of thirty-nine
NDC partnerships across
England that has received
government funding over a
ten-year period to
kick-start the regeneration
of deprived neighbourhoods.
The Challenge
EC1 New Deal inherited their
previous phone system when
they moved into their old
offices in 2001. The system
was basically 'phones on
desks' with set numbers; it
was difficult to transfer
calls, number porting was
not available and it wasn't
scalable.
Due to the nature of EC1
NDC's work they wanted to be
able to operate a policy of
hot-desking, where employees
can in theory change desks
every day easily. They have
a very fluid, busy office,
which is open five days a
week and some weekends.
There are project-based
staff, home-workers,
full-time and temporary
staff. Much of the work is
done onsite and many staff
would spend a fair amount of
time on their mobiles and
would regularly have to be
called using separate
numbers.
EC1 NDC needed a phone
solution that would fit in
with their changeable
working structure, be both
scalable and highly
flexible. The system also
needed to work within a
strict budget and be easily
maintained.
The Solution
When moving to new premises
a fact-finding mission was
undertaken to find the most
appropriate providers. As
with most businesses EC1 NDC
do not have a dedicated
telecom specialist and
therefore relied on the
providers to give them the
information in an
understandable way.
After talking to a few well
known telecom providers,
Inbay, a Voicenet Solutions
Centre of Excellence, was
then contacted and impressed
EC1 NDC enough with the
hosted VoIP offering to be
awarded the account.
VNi Mobile works by using
VoIP compatible GSM Nokia
E61 and E65 phones via WiFi
access points over the
Voicenet Solutions hosted
VoIP network. Calls will be
guaranteed within the
workspace as each site has
builtin QoS facilities.
Whether they are at home,
work or onsite, users only
need one phone. If
colleagues need to contact
them or transfer a call they
just dial the extension
number. When outside a WiFi
network the call gets
transferred automatically to
their mobile network via
VoIP, thus reducing costs
further.
They offered EC1 NDC the
following:
* A full demonstration
highlighting beneficial
features and products that
were pertinent to their
needs
* Full support throughout
the implementation period
and beyond, for office,
mobile and home workers
* A reliable FMC solution –
VNi Mobile
* The ability to log-in to
their laptop and nearest
phone, which would then be
ready to go for that
person's extension, thus
allowing hot-hot-desking
* Achievable cost savings
for the first quarter and
then ongoing for the next 12
months
* A hosted VoIP solution
that is maintained remotely
* Power over Ethernet
solution to cut down
electricity usage
* A competitively priced
solution
The Outcome
With the hosted solution,
WiFi routers, VoIP over WiFi
mobile handsets, Cisco IP
phones and softphones on
laptops, the Voicenet
Solutions phone system
provided by Inbay has
enabled EC1 NDC to work the
way they want to more
easily. The old system was
inhibitive and had to be
worked around. This new
solution gives greater
freedom and flexibility and
means employees can work at
any desk in the home or
onsite and still be
contactable on their single
office number.
Customer Comment
"The integrated system means
our mobile users can make
WiFi calls from both the
home and office enabling us
to work at maximum capacity
at either location."
"Not only do we expect
substantial savings but we
have an office phone system
that gives us greater
flexibility, working the way
we want."
Danielle Roberts, Office
Manager
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