The Client
Sight Concern is a charity based locally to Spire in Worcestershire, that has been supporting blind and partially sighted people since 1880. Challenges including funding cuts have not stopped Sight Concern from continuing to grow and develop as a charity and help people with sight loss become more independent.
Sight Concern approached Spire regarding modernising their technology solutions. The charity had been using an Avaya telephone system and it was unable to provide some features which were now required to assist the charity and its clients. Find out more about them by clicking here.
The Challenge
Following a consultation with one of our specialists, it was decided that the best telephone system for a charity such as Sight Concern was 3CX. The pricing was effective which reduced costs for Sight Concern and features such as Microsoft Teams integration and video conferencing capabilities where an excellent bonus to help them to continue to work smoothly despite Covid lockdowns and restrictions. Find out more about 3CX’s Microsoft Teams integration by reading our Insights post about it here. On top of this, to really bring their technology into the twenty-first century, Sight Concern also required some new IT hardware and a new fast, Fibre internet circuit.
On the day of the migration, we removed their existing hardware and installed the new system with reduced costs. an SBC with a raspberry Pi which reduced costs. Our technician also installed a new internet line replacing the two existing circuits they already had; one for voice and one for internet connection – meaning that they are using one line for their voice and data connection.
One of the services that Sight Concern was offering was a news reading feature where people who are blind or partially sighted could call up, select a region, and then be read their local news as they may not be able to read the newspaper. To do this Sight Concern were paying a subscription for a service on top of their telephone bill but using 3CX and some of our agents’ expertise, we managed to implement this into their phone system for free, saving Sight Concern valuable funding that could be reallocated elsewhere. The best place for information about when they switch over to this local news feature for their clients is Sight Concern’s website, available here https://www.sightconcern.co.uk/news-and-events/
Client Comments
“Spire has been brilliant and helped us all the way through the process. Our previous telephone system had become outdated and was unable to cater for our remote workers and therefore it was time for a change. The benefits to switching to 3CX were immediately evident and the running costs are cheaper too, which is great as we’re a charity.
I was pleased and impressed that Spire went the extra mile and from start to finish, Spire has been a pleasure to work with, making the migration to a new telephone system quick and convenient. I would certainly recommend 3CX as a telephone system and Spire as a provider to anyone looking for a telephone system or IT.”
Jenny Gage – CEO
