Nottinghamshire Healthcare Chooses Proximity Communications to Exploit Cultural and Commercial Benefits of ICT

IP-Ready Telephony Platform Supports Collaboration and Cost-Control Strategy

Newbury, UK, 6 August 2009 – Proximity Communications plc, a leading provider of ICT services and solutions, today announces it has completed the implementation of an IP-ready telephony solution for Nottinghamshire Healthcare, an NHS mental health and learning disability service provider.  Deployed across 14 sites, the solution provides a single, resilient telephony platform, and incorporates a number of applications designed to reduce operational costs across the organisation, as well as improve productivity and collaboration within the workforce. 

The contract, which also includes 24/7 maintenance services to support the provision of round-the-clock emergency care, is designed to support Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s long-term transition to a fully converged IP network.

Previously operating different telephony systems at each site, the newly networked platform is helping to reduce the complexity and cost of maintenance, and enhance patient care.  Martin Harrison, telecoms project manager for Nottinghamshire Healthcare, explains;

“Our number one communications tool, telephony is essential for emergency scenarios and accessing medical expertise.  With many of our staff working in the field, we wanted our new system to help engender a greater sense of teamwork and collaboration.

“The solution from Proximity Communications has allowed us to take the first steps towards achieving this vision.  Staff can quickly identify who’s working where; maintenance is handled at a central location; and, with applications such as auto-attendant, call handling is automated, helping to reduce costs and improve service delivery.  Over time, we want to extend the collaborative capabilities of the system but, importantly, we can do so at our own pace, building and unifying applications onto the network as and when the business is ready.” 

As well as enabling staff to better share expertise, the central system is also helping the telecoms team to analyse and drive down the cost of lines and minutes across the organisation.  According to Darren Boyce, CEO of Proximity Communications, managing and reducing expenditure is still the primary driver in the adoption of unified communications strategies;

“Organisations recognise the productivity benefits of a social enterprise, but it’s difficult to prove the return-on-investment of collaboration and knowledge share.  Unifying existing ICT processes and creating standard operational platforms to drive down costs, especially in the current climate, is far more palatable to a CFO.   

“Furthermore, from a change-management perspective, adopting a migratory process to phase in a collaborative working environment is far less disruptive and ensures the ICT department can successfully integrate social processes one step-at-a-time.”