A project to replace the council’s ageing telephony system with a state-of-the-art voice over IP solution is well under way, with the infrastructure in place and newhandsets for all users planned for June 2008, creating a 21st century communication network for staff and customer alike.
John Bland, Director of Finance for the council, said: “The timing of this project meant that there was only five weeks to complete the overhaul of the back-end system, which was a bold undertaking. I am impressed with the way Unity, and its supplier Bailey Teswaine, partnered to pull this seamless transfer together in such a short timeframe.”
Paul Whitby, ICT Project Manager for Unity, said: “One of the main benefits is that every user will have their own dedicated line and opportunity to have their own voicemail account. Prior to the switch over and handset deployment, we had a large number of users sharing a single line, which meant that people could not make simultaneous outgoing or incoming calls.
“Another benefit will be that by June 2008, the telephony platform will support the option of being able to log in and out of any phone in the council, taking their number with them whatever location they may be working in.”
Today, more than 4000 users and 55 council sites are reliant on the new telephone infrastructure across a large number of schools, libraries, social services sites, First Choice Homes offices, the Civic Centre and many other local authority buildings. All calls routed internally are now free of charge reducing call costs while also making cost savings through the use of a smaller number of voice and data line rentals. The network also provides staff with a feature-rich telephone service and high performance connectivity, supporting modern working practices.
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