Commsworld is set to complete the migration and transformation of Renfrewshire Council’s Wide Area Network (WAN) as part of its £15m contract to upgrade and modernise the council’s digital connectivity and services.
The WAN transformation, once finished, means that Commsworld has rolled out a radical upgrade of connectivity across the entire council estate, providing much wider and better bandwidth across all sites. This includes 180 council buildings such as schools, local libraries and community centres as well as the region’s CCTV and traffic control systems.
Commsworld has also secured the contract to upgrade and enhance the council’s Wi-Fi infrastructure. This will see a replacement Wi-Fi solution delivered across the council’s corporate buildings, increase and enhance Wi-Fi across all schools to 100% coverage, modernise the current public Wi-Fi service across the towns of Paisley, Johnstone and Renfrew, and extend Wi-Fi into community halls across the region.
Commsworld has also delivered a new telephony platform in partnership with 8x8 that now enables interaction between staff and residents to work more flexibly, while improving its engagement with citizens in the region, as a direct result of the impact brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The modernised service, replacing Renfrewshire Council’s predominantly office-based telephony platform, was delivered well within the 12-month timeframe. As a result, around 5,000 council users, including 250 to 300 in its contact centre team, can now take calls with chat, email and Microsoft Teams – as well as secure payment capabilities – either from the office or home.
Commsworld also updated 4,000 mobile phones as part of the contract. Benefits include integration with Microsoft Teams and the ability to synchronise presence between systems.
Craig Scott, Public Sector Business Development Director, said: “We are delighted that we are set to complete Renfrewshire Council’s WAN migration as part of the CaaS contract, as well as introducing enhanced Wi-Fi to council sites, community halls and public Wi-Fi, plus enhanced telephony to workers and citizens in Renfrewshire.
“As overall strategic partner for Renfrewshire Council, Commsworld was tasked with providing the best solution, which we delivered quickly and efficiently on time and within budget, and which significantly enhances communications between the council and its citizens.”
Councillor John Shaw, Convenor of Renfrewshire Council’s Finance, Resources & Customer Services Board, said: “Once completed the upgrade will greatly improve digital connectivity for the council and the people, businesses and communities of Renfrewshire.
“The enhanced fibre availability in Renfrewshire will not only enable faster and more reliable internet services, but will help to tackle digital exclusion, increase access to digital skills training and support future employment opportunities.”
