“One of the most successful projects we have done. Our work processes have been optimised and the senior management team is very happy with the capabilities. We would recommend DCS and this solution wholeheartedly.”
– David Johnstone, ICT Technical Operations, The Highland Council
The Background
The Highland Council is responsible for over 400 sites, including 200 schools. It employs thousands of staff who provide essential services to residents, businesses, and visitors in the Highlands. Their duties include education, housing, social services, waste management, transportation, public health, and community safety. In addition to supporting construction projects, business operations, and community events, they also manage environmental hazards, food safety issues, and escalated complaints.
The Challenge
The Highland Council’s telecommunications system was outdated, heavily relying on traditional phone lines across its schools, corporate offices, and two contact centres. This posed several issues with the PSTN due to be discontinued, fragmented communication operations, remote working challenges, security and maintenance issues, and difficulties scaling services to meet growing demands.
The Solution
The Highland Council has its own IT team with the right technology background to evaluate its challenges and make informed decisions. They had a new IT desk without any legacy equipment, operating successfully on a RingCentral solution, so they approached Daisy Corporate Services (DCS) to streamline their operations using RingCentral’s cloud-based communication platform, which integrated multiple tools into a cohesive system.
There were a number of reasons why The Highland Council chose DCS as their preferred supplier, these included:
- Trusted Relationship: The Highland Council had worked with DCS before and knew they could rely on them for high-quality service and best value in terms of options appraisal and they always come out well against the competition.
- Proven Expertise: DCS had already established a strong partnership with RingCentral, making the ideal choice for a unified communications transformation.
- Flexibility and Responsiveness: Throughout the project, DCS remained flexible, adapted the solution, and applying additional resources to avoid existing contract renewal and to ensure it aligned with the Council’s goals.
- Seamless Transition: As the Council’s existing lines were already with DCS, there were no termination fees, making the transition straightforward and cost-effective.
- Dedicated Account Manager: The Council had access to a dedicated account manager, who was highly responsive, always available, and handled communication with expedience.
- Sustainability Focus: By minimising the need for onsite engineers and reducing hardware, DCS helped the Council meet its green credentials.
The Results
The new unified communications system has delivered significant benefits across The Highland Council’s operations, including:
- Superior service delivery
- Enhanced collaboration
- Greater operational control
- Happier workforce and employee productivity
- Enhanced reporting and business intelligence
- Business continuity
- Scalability and flexibility
- Environmental impact
David Johnstone, ICT Technical Operations at The Highland Council said: “One of the most successful projects we have done. We have a huge project team, and this is by far the biggest project. 5,000 users and 2 contact centres all up and running in less than a year is incredible.
“It isn’t just the configuration and the deployment; it is also the adoption of the end users. We have gone from not having a solution to now having a great one for all our people who are using it well, every day. Our work processes have been optimised and the senior management team is very happy with the capabilities. We would recommend DCS and the solution wholeheartedly.”
Kelly MacKay, Customer & Registration Services at The Highland Council added: “This solution has been game-changing. As a Contact Manager, I want to see the full picture of the day with engaging dashboards without having to drill into the data. I can quickly glance and make decisions. Call quality is no longer an issue, and reporting and drilling into insightful data is incredibly valuable. Having worked in the service centre since 2006 and experienced many call handling technologies and CRM systems, this one stands out as exceptional compared to the others.”
To read more details on this, view the full case study in .pdf format:
