Maintel : Victim Support appoints Azzurri Communications

Victim Support, the UK's leading independent charity for people affected by crime and traumatic events, has appointed managed communications provider Azzurri Communications, a Maintel Company, to deliver a fully managed suite of unified communication services to its network of 1500 staff. The project will help Victim Support enhance its services to victims with better collaboration, improved mobile access to information, and communication capabilities across a secure range of hosted managed service platforms including Skype for Business.

With over 100 sites across England and Wales, Victim Support's principal challenge was the need to improve the delivery of support services from increasingly varied locations - for instance shared support centres, courts or victims' homes. For each case, the relevant case files and notes need to be readily accessible and able to be instantly updated. Victim Support needed a communications infrastructure that would enable secure and reliable mobile access to information, seamless integration with its Microsoft Dynamics CRM case management system, and provide robust organisation-wide unified communications and connectivity; while also reducing OPEX costs.

Azzurri Communications has been chosen to deliver IP telephony and secure unified communications through the managed services provider's deployment of Microsoft Skype for Business. The fully-hosted unified communications platform will allow case workers to collaborate and share information with colleagues and partners more efficiently, reliably and securely. The project also includes Azzurri's deployment of Microsoft Skype for Business, integrated within ICON Communicate. By deploying the tool as part of the ICON Communicate service, Azzurri will manage the migration, integrate with the wider communications and guarantee ongoing uptime and availability.

Azzurri is also deploying a dedicated Wide Area Network that will enable secure access to case notes from wherever the case worker is, allowing Victim Support staff to be even more focused on providing support and being more productive, enabling its service users to move beyond crime.

Due to the nature of Victim Support's services the security of its information is paramount, both in transit and at rest. Azzurri is therefore providing end to end encryption through its ICON Secure managed security services, including Unified Threat Management and DDoS protection, provided from the core network and in alignment with Cyber Essentials+ governance.

The solution is currently available to permanent employees, with plans to roll the services out to Victim Support's 3,000 volunteers.

Barry Alston, Director of IS for Victim Support said: 'When it comes to our everyday operations, our necessary IT capabilities boil down to one thing - having as many effective, well-equipped feet on the street that we possibly can. Azzurri was able to offer us a tailored combination of services and skills that exactly matched what we need. Enabling our case workers to work effectively from any location is essential for our charity to continue to support as many victims of crime as possible. Ultimately, the cost savings enabled by Azzurri will allow us to help even more.

Barry continued, 'As an independent charity, we have to make sure that all processes and capabilities are the best we can achieve. For us, getting the technology wrong could put someone at risk of harm. This is about more than connectivity and uptime metrics; we are focused on whether we are supporting our case workers in making a tangible difference to the lives of those we support. Azzurri spent a significant amount of time understanding our organisation and helping us deliver transformational change to the way we work and the services we can offer.'

Rufus Grig, Group Strategy Director of Maintel said: 'It's a real honour to be working with Victim Support on such an important project for the charity. Victim Support's case workers are an extremely important resource for communities across England and Wales and there aren't many organisations for whom a secure and reliable communications infrastructure is so crucial. We are delighted to have been entrusted with such an important project.'