We
are delighted to announce that Britannic Technologies has been
shortlisted for the Comms Business Awards 2011, in the category of
'SMB Convergence Solution', for the telecommunications solution
provided to Worthing Homes.
Independently judged, The Comms
Business Awards are designed to genuinely recognise excellence in
the Channel. Acknowledging the successes of the reseller community,
the vendors, distributors and service providers as well as those
successful individuals who truly set the standard, these awards are
one of the industry's most sought after accolades.
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 CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) and Applications
Development.
Having received three prominent
industry awards in 2010, Britannic Technologies now look forward to
making 2011 an equally successful year.
Tags:AwardsHousinghousing associationsworthing homes
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