Citizens Advice Manchester is one of a network of 270 local, independently-run branches across the UK providing free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to people on a wide range of subjects.
"We were already using Chromebooks and Google Workspace. With Google Voice, we were able to pivot our telephones overnight. There was no detriment to our operations and the phones never went down as we made the transition. Our Chromebook is now our office, wherever we are. We’ve got our productivity tools but also our phone: with a USB headset, we’re good to go"
Stuart Pearson
Chief Digital Officer, Citizens Advice Manchester
"From non-profits, a big advantage is the flexibility of the pricing structure where you pay for licences on a monthly basis. With the VOIP model, you’re often locked into three year contracts. The ability to scale the number of Google Voice licences up and down as needed is really compelling for non-profits."
Stuart Pearson
Chief Digital Officer, Citizens Advice Manchester
"I can’t stress enough how much our users prefer Google Voice over VOIP handsets. They really like the flexibility in terms of where they work in the house without having to cart a handset around. It’s also very easy to ring contacts: you just bring up their name in Workspace and the phone number is there, rather than having to scroll through the directory on the handset."
Stuart Pearson
Chief Digital Officer, Citizens Advice Manchester
Then
- With a VOIP phone system in place, the organisation was confident it could keep staff connected if they had to work from home, by simply sending them home with a VOIP handset. However when lockdown started and all 140 staff had to begin working from home, the organisation encountered a variety of issues. These ranged from being unable to plug in VOIP handsets because of the location of users’ home routers to some ISPs blocking VOIP traffic to some employees simply not wanting a desk handset in their home-working area.
- The organisation was already dissatisfied with the lack of flexibility in its VOIP phone contracts. Whilst funding for short-term projects can last just six or twelve months, VOIP contracts typically last three years. The organisation found itself locked into paying for VOIP licences long after a project had ended.
- The VOIP system was also cumbersome to manage. If Citizens Advice Manchester wanted to make changes, it had to liaise with its VOIP supplier and rely on others to make the technical changes needed to go live with new numbers.
Now
- All 140 employees can now make and receive calls from home using their office numbers, with some staff using Google Voice and some using VOIP phones. This hybrid system works seamlessly to connect staff with each other and with the outside world, but Citizens Advice Manchester expects to migrate completely to Google Voice by the end of 2021 as its various VOIP contracts end.
- Users strongly prefer Google Voice to the traditional VOIP handsets. They find Google Voice simple to learn and it’s quicker and easier for them to bring up a contact’s details in Workspace and start a call than to scroll through the directory on the VOIP handset to find the number.
- The organisation benefits from a flexible pricing structure that allows it to scale up and down each month as projects start and end. This means it only ever pays for licences it’s currently using. It also benefits from a non-profit discount and doesn’t have the capital costs associated with regular refreshes of VOIP handset hardware.
- The system is easier to manage, with the organisation able to immediately add or remove licences through the Google Workspace Admin Console. It also benefits from new features as soon as they’re added to the solution, at no additional cost, rather than having to wait until the end of its existing contract for an upgrade.