Leading communications firm builds temporary communications and designs unified communications platform as council rebuilds services

[Lichfield] – 03 April, 2009. Europe’s leading expert in communications services, NextiraOne, is helping Melton Borough Council recover from a major fire in 2008. The company has installed temporary communications systems to help the council stay connected whilst staff are spread across temporary locations or work from home. NextiraOne has also designed and implemented a new technology solution that will enable the rebuilding of the council’s telephony and data networking services, allowing the introduction of new unified communications applications and a new state-of-the-art contact centre.

The fire at Melton Borough Council’s headquarters in May 2008 destroyed most of the council’s office accommodation and staff had to be relocated to eight remote sites. Some had to be housed as far as 50 miles away in Nottingham and many employees have been working from home. NextiraOne was asked to help provide a temporary system that would quickly see the telephony services and basic IT systems back up and running again. Working to extremely tight deadlines and with a constantly changing scenario, NextiraOne set up a robust interim networking solution, including a new contact centre which now sees all aspects of the council’s work – both internal and external - “joined up” and functioning more efficiently than before the fire.

As the fire destroyed all the Council’s communications technology, NextiraOne were able to look at everything with a fresh approach without having to consider legacy systems and other constraints.

The solution proposed by NextiraOne is based on Alcatel-Lucent‘s IP telephony platform including unified communications technology, and Melton Borough Council will be one of the first local Government organisations that will use the full functionality of the system including remote homeworkers, single number personal assistant, plus audio conferencing and web based desktop sharing to enhance group working and help save on operational costs.

New applications such as presence, instant messaging and unified messaging will significantly enhance the Council’s communications, making it easier to contact members of staff directly, whether they are desk-based or remote. Presence indicates whether the person is available and how best to contact them - by messaging, desk phone or mobile, for example, whilst unified messaging allows all types of messages to be accessed single user interface regardless of location or device.

The new Melton Borough Council system has been built in three phases over the last six months and is now nearing completion as a fully functioning unified communications platform across the current council offices, temporary sites and local sites, and those working from home. The new applications are currently being implemented and the system will continue to evolve as the rebuilding programme and the move back into new council headquarters progresses over the next 2-3 years. The Council has now also agreed a six-year maintenance contract with NextiraOne.

The unusual circumstances have meant that NextiraOne had to work quickly and efficiently to get the council back up and running. “NextiraOne really pulled out all the stops for us and the team’s experience in building complex and future-proof systems really shone through,” said Chris Stone, Head of ICT at Melton Borough Council. “We only had two weeks after the fire to put the initial plan together and NextiraOne worked with us all the way to get that done. Since then they have worked to our tight deadlines and constantly changing environment to provide us with a truly state-of-the-art system which we are confident will continue to develop as our situation evolves during the rebuilding programme. It will allow us to maximise our performance as we gain a better understanding of the capabilities of the system and we are confident it will help us to enhance our business.”

Steven Skakel, Managing Director UK & Ireland at NextiraOne, said: “This was a difficult project in that we were working against the clock and trying to put in short term and long term solutions at the same time. However, we have very experienced people who know how to deal with emergency situations as well as those who can help design for the future. Our experts are working alongside the borough council to provide the very best short and long term solutions.”