Support: Langley House Trust

Langley House Trust is a Christian charity, founded in 1958, offering support and accommodation to those at risk of offending and ex-offenders looking to re-settle and play a constructive role in the community.  Fifteen residential projects are spread across the country with Central Services based in Witney.

As a charity, the Trust is constantly looking for ways to improve the services they offer whilst demonstrating financial control and the ability to save time and money.  With such a disparate spread of projects, ease of communication is vital and needs to be easily controlled and managed.

Bills must also be easy to analyse and administer as before moving to Total, the Trust used to receive a bill for every single mobile phone and landline at each project.  Ed Rollinson, IT Manager at the charity explains: ‘The administration of over 100 bills a month was incredibly time consuming and made it extremely difficult for us to identify potential savings or misuse.  The YourView online billing platform available through Total has improved that situation immeasurably and provided many additional benefits.’

Although the Trust’s primary usage is for monitoring costs, the platform also provides a good management tool and record of phones and lines. ‘If a mobile isn’t being used, I can quickly identify the user and check whether they need their device or if in fact they can pass it over to a colleague.  Previously, I would have just ordered a new phone straight away.  Similarly, within a group I can see whether all phones are being used or whether one shared mobile would be just as good.’ 

The ability to add additional logins with restricted permission means that he can also allow relevant managers to access YourView, facilitating the authorisation of bills. Another important service element is the Helpdesk, Total’s online resource designed to provide end users with information and assistance. ‘I feel confident that requests will be logged and dealt with within specified timescales, with a quality of resolution.  New handsets can be deducted from our hardware fund, sent out overnight and couriered directly to the recipient, wherever they are.  The audit trail on the Helpdesk is a great aid, as is the anytime access, making all my services so much easier to manage.’

Total’s experience and expertise is something Ed relies on, proving the value add proposition doesn’t necessarily mean increased costs in the long run; in fact the amalgamation of all telecoms, regular review and implementation of the correct solution has enabled distinct and direct cost savings for the charity. ‘As an example, the BlackBerry solution provided has seen communication and internal efficiency improve whilst the extension of the fleet has been subsidised by savings made. T he technical offering from Total is very useful and their close relationships with O2 and RIM mean we also have access to the resources there too.’

Our primary objective is email, some browsing and general facilitation of communication and, as attachment functionality increases, so will transfer of data within the company, meaning these devices will really come into their own.  The other great thing about BlackBerry for me is security and over the air management offering excellent control.

The ability to save time and money will always be an important consideration for the charity and in the future they can continue to benefit from a telecommunications partnership which offers proactive and more importantly, honest business advice and cost control.  Something Langley House Trust are always keen to find.