In early 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic forced The Hillingdon Confederation (Confed) to move to a remote working solution whilst still maintaining vital patient services including the setting up of COVID-19 vaccination hubs.

Whilst remote working is a valid reason for implementing cloud telephony, the Confed felt moving to a cloud telephony model would also; improve communication by accommodating mobile staff, reduce costs by withdrawing mobile phone contracts and also increase flexibility with the ability to scale-up and scale-down of licenses and costs quickly.

Following the requirements gathering stage, Hanley Consulting carried out analysis of available products on the market. Once a suitable product was identified (UC-One), due to the urgent need for a solution, we then generated a project plan with a 12-week timescale. The plan included developing ‘As Is’ and ‘To Be’ maps of the telephony setup with provisions for consultation with the client. We also allowed time for setup/configuration followed by a comprehensive comms and training plan (due to the client’s shift patterns and urgency of the requirement, we developed training video tutorials for staff which were hosted on the client’s intranet). Hanley Consulting also include a handover/BAU strategy with a post-implementation support plan where budget suffices.