Public Sector - Deliver better for less with Open Source & Cloud Phone Systems

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1 Public Sector - Deliver better for less with Open Source & Cloud Phone Systems

2 Introduction Contents For all public sector bodies, funding new systems is always a financial challenge that has to deliver value to the tax payer. A change of mind set from uncertainty to modern IP communications Generally, it is accepted that telephony systems which are over five years old incur a significant opportunity-cost arising from diminishing efficiency of aging features that do not provide the savings and flexibility of modern equivalents. In addition, the direct cost of maintaining and upgrading an old telephony system also increases over time whilst other resources, such as staff and management time, are incurred unnecessarily. Delivering better for less The advantages of Open Source technology Procuring IP Telephony The Open Source Telephony Solution for Government Now, with cloud-based telephone systems proven to streamline working practices at a lower cost, public sector organisations are taking more than a passing interest in how they can make significant savings, whilst improving the efficiency of their operations. To learn more about Foehn please call or visit

3 A change of mind set from uncertainty to modern IP communications As communications technology evolves and ageing systems come to the end of their natural life span, public sector organisations throughout the UK are at different stages with their telephony, some more advanced than others. Typically these include: Organisations that already have cloud telephony Organisations that have an onsite telephone system and rely on external maintenance partners The adoption and take up of Open Source and modern cloud telephony is as much about mind sets as it is the technical and financial aspects of a solution. Some organisations are loath to change, especially if their existing system still has some life in it. Others will see the technical and financial benefits of progressing to a modern IP system. Where mind sets do need to change they will be assisted in part by successful implementations that demonstrate clear benefits, including cost savings, greater efficiencies and new ways of working. Organisations that are looking at maintaining the status quo or upgrading, but at a significantly lower cost in terms of the set-up and maintenance Voice has always been an oddity in the public sector. Forward thinking IT professionals now see it as part of their IT Infrastructure Matthew Clarke, Senior IT Operations Engineer, Boston Borough Council To learn more about Foehn please call or visit

4 Delivering better for less -004 Modern, cloud-based communications systems are uniquely placed to deliver a better, more efficient and effective technology for less money. Public Sector bodies are recognising that they can make significant cost savings without impairing service delivery. The very nature of Cloud and Open Source technology means more productivity-boosting features than incumbent predecessors. The ability to rethink services and how they can be delivered more effectively is a huge incentive for change. The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) deployed a new cloud telephony system based on open source and has been running since the beginning of It comprises 500 seats, 300 at its London Millbank office and 200 in Manchester, as well as two call centres with 24 and 9 seats, respectively. A key transformation is the PHSO s ability to integrate the new phone system with its case management system, providing call recording and accurate call reporting and analysis. PHSO is now saving in the region of 50,000 per annum with a new phone system that still has a lot more productivity-boosting features than its predecessor. Overall the new phone system has enabled us to improve productivity, increase efficiencies and deliver a more reliable and better service to people Nicky Dowland, IT Services Manager, PHSO The Local Government Ombudsman Similarly to PHSO, The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) embarked on a new telephony project, with their call centre supported by a full IVR system, call recording, call queuing and call management system, all aimed at giving employees the flexibility to work in a more agile way. Overall, the LGO is now saving at least 30% on the phone and network system costs and yet has 50% faster network connections than before. The new Foehn system supports the changes that we ve made to the organisation and, going forward, will continue to help us improve the critical services that we provide Adrian Beaumont, IT Manager, LGO Boston Borough Council With just over 200 desktop telephones, Boston Borough Council has managed to reduce its annual fixed telephony costs by more than 40%. They now have a featurerich, scalable, resilient, cost effective, telephony platform to support the ongoing transformation of Local Authority services. The decision to move to Foehn s hosted telephony was simple. Not only has the council dramatically reduced its costs, but has been able to provide all users with a modern, agile, and scalable technology solution to meet the challenges ahead. Robert Barlow, Strategic Director of Resources, Boston Borough Council To learn more about Foehn please call or visit

5 The advantages of Open Source technology -005 cloud Freedom ne of the most significant benefits of pen Source is freedom from vendor lock-in. by the vendor. They can also develop and add their own features if they are not provided by the vendor. Feature rich Many of the large pen Source programmes, such as Apache and Asterisk, are releases appear on a frequent basis. Stability widely acknowledged that pen Source is at a point where it is highly stable, extremely secure and incredibly feature rich the government s decision to express a preference for pen Source is a further endorsement of these advances. Continual development developers and is tested by a far larger community than proprie could be. Integration are works with between telephone systems and C M systems very simple. Real value coupled with business processes and business systems. To learn more about Foehn please call or visit

6 -006 Delivering better for less with Open Source & Cloud Phone Systems Procuring a Cloud Phone System improvements by dealing with SMEs. The Crown Commercial purchasing system allowed the Local Government Ombudsman and The Parliamentary and Health Network Services framework (RM1045) IP Telephony forms one of the 10 services in a framework setup Network Services (PSNS) frameworks. The aim is to enable with the public sector. The framework provides public sector directly award contracts through an online catalogue. There are only 25 selected suppliers of IP Telephony, with Foehn uniquely G-cloud The framework was setup in 2012 to promote government-wide 753m worth of procurement with 51% of that going to SME s Telephony can be done through the Digital Marketplace, where the likes of Boston Borough Council have been able to reduce their annual fixed telephony spend by more than 40%. We were keen to use the G-Cloud framework to procure the services, which meant that we wouldn t have to go through a very lengthy drawn out process. On G-Cloud there were prequalified suppliers we could be confident were capable of delivering what we needed at a competitive price. Adrian Beaumont, LGO IT Manager

7 -007 Delivering better for less with Open Source & Cloud Phone Systems Deliver better for less with IP Telephony THE OPEN SOURCE TELEPHONY SOLUTION FOR GOVERNMENT Significant savings of up to 40% By open source experts from start to finish & flexibility Network Services Framework Supplier G-Cloud 7 Supplier