Project Description

HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY (HSA)

HSA IMPLEMENTS CLOUD-BASED UNIFIED COMMUNICATION SOLUTION & ASSOCIATED TELEPHONE SERVICES, INCLUDING CALL CENTRE FUNCTIONALITY & VOIP

AT A GLANCE

Industry
  • Health & Safety Authority
Goals
  • To replace the current phone system and contact centre with a new cloud-based enterprise communications platform.
Solutions
  • Provision of a cloud-based unified communication solution and associated telephone services, including call centre functionality & VOIP
Benefits
  • Full Integration Of Phone System With MS Teams
  • Cost Reduction
  • Better Reporting Capabilities
  • Fully Flexible Workforce
  • Cloud based omni-channel solution
  • Full support and maintenance contract

INNOVATION AND CONNECTIVITY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA), established in 1989 is headquartered in James Joyce St, Dublin. The Authority has overall responsibility for the administration and enforcement of health and safety at work within all industries throughout Ireland. The Authority is also the national centre for information and advice to employers, employees and the self-employed on all aspects of workplace health and safety. It promotes education, training and research in the field of health and safety.

THE BACKDROP

The HSA is a multi-disciplinary and multi-functional organisation with 300 Staff based at its headquarters in Dublin and a number of Regional Offices including Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, and Athlone. Approximately 18,000 requests for information (RFIs) and 3,000 complaints are received annually by the Authority. The call volumes are processed and managed by a 20-agent multimedia contact centre. The Authority had in place an ageing phone system with ISDN lines for connectivity, which was limited in its capacity and did not offer the flexibility of more efficient ways of working demanded by the HSA.

DEFINING THE PROJECT NEEDS

In late 2021 The HSA sought to replace the current phone system and contact centre with a new cloud-based enterprise communications platform. The solution required would need to support and satisfy both the current and future operational needs of the HSA. VEI Global was awarded the tender to provide a cloud-based unified communication solution and associated telephone services, including call centre functionality, VoIP provision inclusive of calls and ongoing maintenance support. All staff had been using telephone handsets and all incoming calls were recorded for training purposes. Call reporting was a key requirement mainly for the contact centre, but also to detect misuse of the system.

KEY DELIVERABLES FOR THE PROJECT INCLUDED

  • Defined project plan with key dates demonstrating the ability to meet implementation timescales – The new hosted solution was on the critical path for the implementation of the HSA ICT System and for the wider HSA staff.
  • Ability to integrate with MS Teams, which was the Authority’s chosen voice and UC platform.
  • A cloud-based omni-channel contact centre that natively integrates to MS Teams for 30 agents and 4 supervisors.
  • System set up, implementation and onsite training for all staff.
  • Support for office, mobile and remote workers.
  • Porting of all existing numbers to new SIP channels.
  • Voicemail for all users.

  • Auto Attendant.
  • Voice Recording.
  • Call Reporting.
  • Range of SIP handsets and conference devices.
  • Wired and wireless headsets.
  • Ability to integrate via APIs to third-party solutions.

SOLUTION DRIVEN FOR MAXIMUM SUCCESS

VEI delivered a cloud hosted solution that uses a web interface for configuration management. The customisable administrative interface with role-based user control is available to IT staff. The contact centre configuration interface is embedded into the Microsoft Teams client as a plugin for simple access. The software solution is remotely monitored by the VEI NOC 24/7.

VEI provided a highly available, multi-tenant, Session Border Controller (SBC) to enable MS Teams Direct Routing for calls. The SBC and all of its components are hosted and maintained by VEI. The contact centre routing capability is added using Luware Nimbus, which is an industry-leading Contact Centre product that integrates natively with MS teams. This service utilizes the MS Teams APIs to make call routing flows and collect statistical information.

Luware Nimbus is a certified contact centre solution for Microsoft Teams. It is built on the “Extend model” and ensures the deepest possible integration with Teams and Azure. With Luware Nimbus, customers only pay for the solutions they need and add features as business needs change. HSA calls and media stream stay in the Teams environment and Microsoft’s stringent security standards apply.

  • The new VEI solution enabled the HSA to have much more control, flexibility and reporting on caller enquiries, which greatly enhanced their customers experience with the customer service teams.
  • All planning and migration of existing telephone numbers was completed by the VEI installation team with no disruption to HSA staff.
  • Major savings were made on the cancellation of the traditional ISDN lines and reduced call tariffs.
  • The communications support and connectivity costs were significantly reduced by moving to VoIP with VEI.
  • The HSA CC teams were quickly able to extend their capabilities and services, using the Luware platform, which works alongside their existing MS Teams client.
  • The major advantage for the HSA and its stakeholders, was that there was no significant investment and training required in deploying a new phone system. All HSA users continue to enjoy using MS Teams, with Luware providing the contact centre support.

ABOUT VEI GLOBAL

VEI Global is a market leader in providing innovative technology services and support solutions. We excel in delivering multi-site IT deployment projects across all sectors around the globe. Our focus is on providing the best support service capabilities, all requests are managed 24/7. We can handle any ICT challenges and are experts in networks, logistics, infrastructure and service delivery. A highly skilled and experienced IT team such as VEI can support businesses with all aspects of IT infrastructure projects, from reviewing your requirements, identifying the right solutions to suit your requirements and budget, right through to deployment and ongoing systems maintenance. This leaves you free to focus on what matters most—your business operations and business growth.

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