Telephony/Unified Communications Solution

Description

Over the last 18 months Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) has faced significant challenges due to the Covid19 pandemic. The Council has been faced with 1. radically changing our service delivery model 2. balancing shifting customer and staff expectations 3. modernising current working practices 4. maintaining financial sustainability. All of the above occurred before we were able to invest in our infrastructure to provide seamless communications between staff and with our customers. With the shifted expectations on contemporary working environments and practices, and in conjunction with our Transformation Programme we are seeking a modern and resilient telephony provision with Unified Communications. New technology is now available which is expected to reduce the overall call costs, and help leverage the introduction of new and less expensive equipment. We are also mindful of the planned retirement of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by 2025. Our existing systems, whilst robust, need replacing and upgrading in order to deliver a truly modern and unified communications framework through which we can deliver our services to the public. We plan to replace our existing on-premise PBX and Meridian switch system with a cloud based VOIP solution. In the short-term any solution will need to integrate with our Avaya IPOCC contact centre. Skype for Business (SfB) is end of life 2021. This service is not currently externalized at MDDC. MDDC is licenced for MS365 (E3), so integration with MSTeams is an option for the future, so any potential supplier should take this into account and offer as an option if available. Currently staff at each of our sites are fairly fixed at certain desks for telephony and those working from home during the pandemic have had to rely on the use of mobiles. The cost of calls has escalated as a result. We operate out of various sites, so it is essential to ensure staff are able to move between sites whilst keeping their telephone number and functionality.