Disability Action Yorkshire
Disability Action Yorkshire is a fantastic local charity which makes a real difference to the lifestyle and opportunities available to disabled people in our region and their families. They have been operating for more than 80 years and their services are very much focused on providing practical solutions and support.
With a busy head office at Hornbeam Park in Harrogate and a residential care home on Claro Road, outdated telephone and internet systems at each site were proving unreliable and made even the most basic communication functions much harder than they needed to be.
The charity was looking for a system that could adapt to the way they wanted to work, rather than the other way around.
Xi Comms took time to understand the difficulties Disability Action Yorkshire was facing before advising on the best solution.
The charity’s telecoms systems were preventing them from working effectively so Xi Comms recommended a cloud hosted voice system (VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol), which uses the internet rather than a traditional phone line to make and receive calls.
Some of the key benefits of cloud telephony are:
Low-cost of installation and operating costs;
Significant cost savings on monthly bills;
Excellent call quality;
Secure and reliable communications;
Automatic software updates;
Flexibility, allowing the telecoms system to be tailored to the exact needs of the organisation with a single system across multiple sites.
One of the real game changers for Disability Action Yorkshire has been the introduction of an automatic receptionist function, or auto-attendant system, which routes incoming calls efficiently so that they are directed to the right person automatically.
David Ashton-Jones, Ops Manager at Disability Action Yorkshire, said: “Our previous system was old, with limited functionality, and Xi Comms took the time to understand our requirements through a series of visits at both of our sites, as well as an analysis of rental and call charges. We did look for quotes from a couple of alternative providers, but Xi Comms hit the mark at every level.”
Tony Mellor at Xi Comms said: “We are really pleased to have been able to make such a positive impact at Disability Action Yorkshire. They hadn’t realised just how much their outdated telephone systems were holding them back until we introduced them to a different way of operating.
“At Xi Comms, we actively manage all of our clients' telephony services which means that as Disability Action Yorkshire adapts and evolves, we will be working in the background to ensure their system continues to meets their evolving requirements.”
