How can IT suppliers deliver better value?

Download article as published in Housing Technology magazine, March 2011

Jonathan Sharp, Sales and Marketing Director at Britannic writes about his visit to the Housing Technology Conference. If you would like a meeting so that we can share these ideas with you, please call 08448 666 100 or email enquiries@btlnet.co.uk

I recently attended the Housing Technology Conference in Nottingham.  Professor Morris Pentel began proceedings talking about the future of Technology in Housing.  He was followed by excellent breakout sessions from suppliers and HAs alike where, not surprisingly, looking for innovative ways to deliver better value was a common theme.  Listening to the various presentations and talking with delegates throughout the day, what struck me was the desire to deliver an excellence of service both internally and externally to tenants, whilst managing and developing complex and mixed technology infrastructures and service providers within typically fixed annual budgets, which are now under pressure!

There was a clear willingness to innovate and embrace new technologies to support the changing demographics of the tenant community and changes within the UK economy, whilst meeting staff expectations and objectives passed down from the board.

Unified Communications empower a more efficient workforce

The role of effective use of technology in this sector cannot be underestimated.  I heard examples of pressured and stressful environments whereby staff could not effectively deal with tenant questions which resulted in inefficiencies and poor service to those tenants.  In contrast, there were great examples of where the latest unified communications technologies had empowered staff at the sharp end to excel and deliver efficient and personalised service, by easily collaborating with back office and field staff through automatic access to supporting information and systems,  to provide a right first time every time culture.

Without question the housing sector has undergone many changes over recent years following the large scale transfer of stock from government to new and emerging housing associations.  There has been a great deal of change and consolidation recently through the process of mergers, which have formed some 'super powers' in the housing sector.

Today we embark upon the next phase of change and development.  The UK economy is experiencing high rates of inflation, twice the government targets.  This follows one of the deepest recessions of recent times.  Government have set their targets to eliminate the deficit and consequently a new period of austerity has emerged.  The Housing sector is not escaping.  Housing grants and subsidies have been cut and HAs are seeking ways to reduce their expenditure wherever possible, with a target of 25% being cited.  Government have also unveiled plans to introduce a single "universal" payment as part of the shake up within the benefits system.  Consequently the risk of debt increases and so too the demands to manage rent collections and arrears more effectively.

Shared Services

We have also seen the emergence of the "shared services" model, for example 24x7 support, outsourcing of repairs and care of the vulnerable.  This will undoubtedly increase, in an attempt to achieve greater cost savings and economies of scale.  This combined with the prospect of many front line services being reduced / eliminated by the government leaves HAs questioning who is going to deliver what services to citizens within the new "Big Society"?  Does this create additional burden, or opportunity for housing associations, with the demand for new services - such as benefits advice?

All these changing conditions and budgetary constraints create a real paradox for the sector.  How can it still deliver accessible, personalised high standards of service with the requirement to cut costs?  The easy answer, it needs to do more with less. But how can this be achieved, without causing a detrimental effect?

New agile technologies

Positively, there are new technologies and models available which support this new agile, collaborative, cost conscious and service driven economy.

Cloud computing, Virtualisation (voice and data), SIP trunking and Unified Communications have all emerged to provide cost savings, improved management, greater flexibility, 100% availability, personalised service and much more.

At Britannic Technologies we work with our clients in true partnership.  We have an in-depth understanding of the sector and the challenges Housing Associations face and importantly we have a clear vision and tried and tested strategies to enable them to continue to serve the community whilst achieving automatic continuity, cost reductions, improved management visibility & control and planning for the future with confidence.

We have many examples of where we have helped the sector benefit from our expertise, market leading portfolio, innovation and partnership approach.  This was recently summed up by Saul Stevens, IT Director of Family Mosaic:

"Britannic have worked very closely with Family Mosaic.  They are very capable, very happy to work with and support organisations such as us.

Britannic are very technology savvy, very responsive, they have great technical resource and over and above everything else they have really listened to what we want and are helping to shape our technology roadmap for the future."

Delivering better value

In summary, one of the questions which resonated with me from the conference is:

What can suppliers to the housing sector do to deliver better value?

By working with award winning Britannic Technologies, Housing Associations will be able to benefit from an organisation that recognises the importance of this sector, has 25 years' experience in telephony and contact centres to draw upon and is leading the way in new wave technologies such as SIP, Telephony virtualisation, Unified Communications, WAN Governance and Systems integration.

We will help achieve significant costs savings by as much as 50%, increase management visibility and control and reduce the management burden of ICT.  We will support greater efficiencies, provide personalised customer service and adopt a flexible managed service framework for changes, additions and enhancements without the need to increase budgets.   We will provide clarity out of the confusion across the telecoms sector with tried and tested strategies that will deliver cost savings, greater business agility, automatic business continuity and demonstrable benefits for tenants and HAs alike and identify how and where technology can effectively be used to support the desire to attain 3 star and excellence.

We will provide good value from the offset with a competitive single tariff for the housing sector.

Sound too good to be true?  Call us today on 0845 056 2000 and find out how we do it! We look forward to the opportunity of partnering with you.

Tags:BritannicHousing

Britannic Technologies launches netPBX - innovative, affordable telephony on demand

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Independent communications company Britannic Technologies launches its own hosted telephony platform netPBX.

The product is aiming to fill a gap in the market for businesses who want to drive forward greater efficiencies in the current economic climate. These efficiencies include cost of ownership, energy usage, carbon footprint, technical expertise and speed of implementation.

netPBX is a simple to use cloud based telephony service, paid for by monthly subscription. It is setup and administered through a user-friendly web portal, making it an ideal solution for branch based businesses that don't have on-site technical expertise.

This telephony solution is ideal for organisations with home workers, branch locations or a distributed business model as they can now benefit from professional telephony in every location.

"We are seeing tremendous interest in this product from organisations that want the features of an on premise phone system but don't want the headache. netPBX delivers the functionality via the cloud, with inbuilt resilience and scalability - making it excellent value for money." Commented Jonathan Sharp, Sales and Marketing Director, Britannic Technologies.

The handsets sold with netPBX are a key component of this highly efficient service.  They are from German manufacturer snom who have a reputation in the market place for delivering highly energy efficient phones. snom, like Britannic Technologies are known in the industry as SIP pioneers.  They provide leading technological features and functions like security protocols to ensure safe VoIP telephony use.

"Britannic Technologies share the same ethos as snom, by delivering tangible efficiencies with netPBX coupled with our phones.  They have proven themselves with their carrier class, SIP exchange platform netX, which is certified with the snom ONE IP PBX and the new hosted telephony service is a natural extension of this development." Commented Jonathan Greenwood, Managing Director snom UK Ltd. "We welcome the fact that they have chosen snom phones as their handset of choice for this solution."

Today Britannic Technologies is one of the largest and most technically able independent communications companies in the UK, providing both national and international solutions. They specialise in IP Communications, Networking, Systems and CT (Computer Telephony) Integration and Applications Development.

ENDS

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For further information contact:

Jonathan Sharp, Sales and Marketing Director, mobile 07766207136 email jsharp@btlnet.co.uk - at show on 9th March.

Kristopher Januszajtis-Neale, Product Manager, kjanuszajtis-neale@btlnet.co.uk
mobile 07824845920 - at show on 8th March.

About Britannic Technologies

Britannic Technologies is an award winning value added solutions provider specialising in unified communications technology, network services and systems support.

Britannic was founded in 1984.  From the offset it established an enviable reputation within the market for delivering high quality telecommunications solutions and services combined with a real ability to innovate.

Throughout this time Britannic has developed their position within the fast moving and evolving telecoms market place by partnering with world leading manufacturers and service provides to deliver a best of breed solution to organisations throughout the UK, complemented by our total commitment to customer care and integration capabilities.

Today Britannic Technologies are one of the largest and most established independent privately owned communications companies in the UK, providing both national and international solutions.

Britannic have an enviable portfolio of market leading products and services, combining in-house developments with products from world leading manufacturers and service providers, such as Mitel, Avaya, Cisco, HP, Cable & Wireless, BT, Sun Microsystems and Tandberg to name but a few.

For more information visit www.btlnet.co.uk and our TV site www.britannictech.tv

About Snom

snom technology AG develops and manufactures VoIP telephones and related equipment based on the IETF open standard, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Recognized for its high-quality, customizable, and cost-effective business solutions, snom is also differentiated by the company's history in the VoIP industry, and its dedication to high security standards. All of snom's products, from desktop phones to IP PBXs, are designed to be fully interoperable with leading communications equipment vendors, and in 2010 the snom 300 desktop phone was officially accepted into the Microsoft Lync 2010 device compatibility program, qualifying it as a recommended device for use with the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Microsoft Lync 2010. snom customers benefit from the interoperability and flexibility that the snom telephones offer, including plug and play integration and universal compatibility with any SIP-based telephony platform. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, snom technology AG also has offices in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and the US. The company distributes its fourth generation SIP phones through its network of more than 200 authorized reseller partners in 60 countries worldwide. For more information on snom, please visit www.snom.com.

Tags:netPBXhosted VoIP

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