Council committed to ensuring its citizens get access to services with Redstone contact centre solution

6th June 2007 – The Government’s drive to improve Local Authorities and ensure that citizens receive better access to services was a key driver for Powys Council to set up a new customer service organisation to become the face of the council, and it has chosen Redstone’s multimedia contact centre to be the lynch pin.

The contract that has been awarded to Redstone Converged Solutions, a leading provider of truly integrated end-to-end converged IP solutions, will see the contact centre rolled out across six Customer Service Centres, over 100 miles apart. This will ensure that citizens’ inbound calls will be routed to the right person, in the right area, with the right knowledge, and if necessary with the right language skills; an important consideration for the Welsh Council.

“We wanted to introduce IP telephony in order to improve customer service, but another huge benefit of the solution is that it will provide a more flexible working environment for our staff,” said Andrew Smith, Head of Information and Customer Services, Powys Council. “The new solution will allow us to implement a contact centre across six of our sites without the need to centralise. Furthermore, the smarter reporting functionality of the system will enable us to make intelligent decisions about what cover is required and when.”
 
 “We selected Redstone because we were impressed by their consultative approach which demonstrated the necessary Avaya skills and customer focus that we were looking for in a long term partner”

The project, won in a competitive tender, will see Redstone deploy an Avaya multimedia contact centre. Redstone has considerable credentials having already deployed similar solutions for Dominion Housing Group and Medway District Council.

Paul Kennedy, Managing Director, Redstone Converged Solutions, said: “I am delighted that Powys Council has chosen Redstone for this exciting project.  Our aim is to help them drive improvements in their customer experience.  Having spent time understanding the Council’s overall objectives, their current business processes together with the challenges they face in the future, I am confident that our solution will allow the Council to enhance the access to services for their residents by focusing on the nature and quality of the interaction. The flexibility offered by our solution, allows them to really grow their service offering from their contact centres over the coming months and years.

“We believe that it is important that government offices understand and promote the adoption of technologies that improve interactions with their citizens” said Jonathan Buckle, Government Accounts Director, Avaya UK. “Local government authorities are now facing various challenges such as instituting flexible working practices and improving communications both internally and externally.  This is why with Avaya’s Intelligent Communications solutions and our Business Partners we can help transform the delivery of public sector services, making it easier for citizens to access them while helping Government Institutions meet their targets” concluded Buckle.

The equipment is currently being installed, on target for the Council’s launch later this year.

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