About Citizens Advice Bedford
Citizens Advice Bedford (CAB) is an independent charity, which provides free, independent, confidential and impartial information, advice and guidance across a wide range of issues to residents of Bedford Borough. CAB is a member of the Citizens Advice network, a well-known and trusted nationwide brand, whose aims are to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and to influence policy makers to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.
Since 1940, they have been delivering advice services, throughout always evidencing their extensive local knowledge, and building on their strong track record helping Bedford Borough residents.
Barton Telecom Services have worked with Citizens Advice Bedford for over 10 years. During this time, we have had various jobs from Panasonic telephone system installations, contact centre creations and data cabling. We have recently moved them into their recently refurbished new offices in the Harpur Centre.
Requirements
Citizens Advice Bedford had recently secured a lease for a retail unit inside the Harpur Centre in Bedford. They were going to be moving into the new premises and were taking this as an opportunity to upgrade their current outdated broadband and telephone system solutions. They were having great difficulty sourcing a good broadband connection as services were very limited at their new location. They also required a new telephone system which would also allow them to work from home (WFH) when needed.
Solution
We worked with the Harpur Centre and Citizens Advice Bedford to find the best broadband solution for them as availability was very limited. We were soon to discover that the only option to reliably run their business was to opt for a dedicated leased line connection. We managed to escalate the installation as there scheduled move date was fast approaching. This was installed and live within 6 weeks, much shorter than the 90-day wholesale lead time. We also fitted and installed a new VoIP phone system to give them better flexibility using Yealink IP phones and a mixture of PC/ mobile softphone apps.
Impact & Advantages
Citizens Advice Bedford now have an extremely reliable 100mb leased line broadband service which is providing them with some great speeds for what they require. The new VoIP phone system has allowed them to run their contact centre advice line both onsite and remotely. Allowing the on-shift volunteers to log onto a softphone as and when required. These upgraded services have also protected the customer against the 2025 ISDN/PSTN cut off, meaning they are now future proofed and equipped to offer their customers the best possible service for many years to come.
