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Cavendish
COMMUNICATIONS
Supporting businesses with their communications since 1990
Improved - Integrated Communications
Across Sussex for Citizens Advice Bureau
Central and South Sussex
Citizens Advice Bureau
(CaSSCAB), is a registered
charity and part of a
nationwide network of
Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Offering advice on subjects
such as debt, benefits and
housing, the Citizens Advice
Bureaux nationwide helped
2.1 million people to solve
6.6 million problems in the
year 2012/13.
Comprising of around 50
permanent employees
and around 300 volunteer
advisers, the CaSSCAB
operates from 8 offices
covering a region from East
Grinstead and Horsham,
down to the coast at
Shoreham and Worthing.
The Situation
A review of the Bureau’s
communications was prompted
by a move of the Worthing office
into the Town Hall building which
created the need for a new
telephone system.
It was the responsibility of bureau
ICT Coordinator Mike Larcombe
to organise the new telephone
system and consider the wider
communication requirements of
the 8 offices.
Central and South Sussex Citizens Advice Bureau Horsham Office
The wider issue was the bureau
wanted to enable more advisers
to be able to login and manage
calls on Adviceline and they
needed more lines and a more
integrated communication
solution.
Telephone Advice
Commenting on the significance
of the telephone systems, ICT
Coordinator Mike Larcombe said,
“The growth of the Adviceline
service means that telephone
communications are becoming
significantly more important.
Currently over half of the advice
offered to clients is provided face
to face, with 40% by telephone
and 3% via email the percentage
of enquiries being managed by
telephone is increasing steadily.”
Mike went on to explain, “Taking
enquiries by telephone means
that we can balance the
demand for advice across the
region more evenly by managing
the calls between the 8 offices
based on available resources.”
Choosing Cavendish
Talking about the choice of
communications provider Mike
Larcombe shared the fact that
the bureau had considered a
national provider, together with a
number of local communications
companies but in seeking a
recommendation, Arun and
Chichester Citizens Advice Bureau
had recommended Cavendish.
The decision was taken to
partner with Cavendish as a local
company with experience.
The Solution
Cavendish installed IP based
communications with resilient
MPLS networks and SIP Trunks at
the Worthing office followed soon
afterwards in Haywards Heath
and Horsham as part of a roll out
programme.
Installation and Support
Asked about the project
management and installation
Mike said, “The engineers were
excellent. Where new cabling was
required, the cabling team turned
up early and installed the cabling
with very little disruption. The
engineers installed the handsets,
carried out the necessary
programming and provided on
site training.” Mike went on to say
the post installation support had
been very good too.
The Impact
Commenting on the impact of
the new communications Mike
said, “As a charity we are always
looking to reduce costs and the
calling package from Cavendish
has helped us reduce the cost
of calls to mobile phones and
calls between offices are now
made by dialling a short extension
number and making a free
internal call.”
Cavendish Communications
Cavendish House
New Road
Newhaven
BN9 0ES
ICT Coordinator Mike Larcome in the Horsham Office
“Cavendish are
approachable,
knowledgeable
and helpful - I
would be happy to
recommend them”
Mike Larcombe
ICT Coordinator
Mike added, “Equally important
to the bureau is reliability which
we now have with the solution
from Cavendish.” Mike added,
“One of the other benefits to the
bureau is the hot desking feature,
where area managers and ICT
staff that work in multiple offices,
can log in to make and receive
calls in whatever office they are
working in.”
Summary
Central and South Sussex Citizens
Advice Bureau Communications
Officer, Clare Mannsaker,
provided the following summary
about their relationship with
Cavendish by saying, “We are
using Cavendish to supply a single
telephone system for our CAB
Advice Centres in West Sussex.
Our telephone service for clients –
Adviceline- has high demand and
by investing in a single telephone
system from Cavendish, we can
ensure everyone receives the high
quality service they expect and
deserve.”
Working with Cavendish
Asked to comment on his overall
experience of partnering with
Cavendish Mike said, “Cavendish
have been very easy to work
with. They are approachable,
knowledgeable and helpful and
I would be happy to recommend
them.”
One of the CAB team in Horsham
Tel: 0800 206 2107
Web:www.cavcoms.com
Email:[email protected]