Press release
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council deploys Telewest Business
service to save taxpayers £60,000 a year
25th July 2005. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council has teamed
up with Telewest Business to review its voice communications in a
project estimated to save the council £60,000 a year, savings which
are being ploughed back into local public services. With over a
quarter of a million borough residents to serve, Walsall
Metropolitan Borough Council has to cope with a huge volume of
queries, making controlling the cost of voice calls a primary
concern.
The council has selected the Carrier Pre-Select (CPS) offering from
Telewest Business, which utilises the BT lines but switches the
voice calls to a cheaper tariff via Telewest’s 6,000 Km-long
national fibre network. Calls from over 1,200 sites, including
offices, schools and Social Care sites will be converted, leaving
the council only paying line rental to its incumbent carrier,
BT.
Dennis Jones, Business Systems and Infrastructure Manager for
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, said that the project was in
response to cost-cutting measures following the Gershon report,
which encourages councils to be more accountable on spending.
“We are always looking to cut overheads where possible and
Telewest Business found us a way to do that with our voice calls,
meaning we can channel those savings into further improving other
services for local residents,” said Jones. “We also found that
Telewest Business had an excellent local support
infrastructure.”
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council is already a user of Telewest
Business’ SRS (Special Rate Services), which allows its contact
centres to be more effective and responsive. The two companies are
also likely to be working together on future projects.
Christopher Small, Director of Public Sector for Telewest
Business said that the Gershon report had helped focus the minds of
local authorities as to the savings possible by working closely
with service providers. “There’s no doubt the people of Walsall
will benefit from the savings brought about through switching to
Telewest Business’ Carrier Pre-Select, and indeed other savings
possible through other services. Technology is there to improve
efficiency and deliver savings, and I believe that authorities are
beginning to recognise this even more post-Gershon.”
About Carrier Pre-Select (CPS)
CPS from Telewest Business allows companies to benefit from our
competitive call tariffs on their existing BT lines. All
originating CPS calls are routed via the BT network and on to the
Telewest network.