Case Study: St Raphael's Hospice.
A critical telephone system upgrade for St Raphael's Hospice included softphones, messaging, voicemail, call queuing and legacy integration.
Managed collaboration solutions for healthcare.
Unifi a managed IT Services company, has experience in providing collaboration solutions to healthcare organisations.
For over 30 years, St Raphael’s has offered compassionate, free hospice care to residents of Merton and Sutton, relying on public donations, legacies, and fundraising efforts to support nearly 1,000 terminally-ill patients annually
Unifi was invited to submit a proposal for a new phone system installation as St Raphael’s relocated. We designed a custom solution based on Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), meticulously aligned to the hospice’s specific needs.
A powerful, scalable and reliable Cisco collaboration solutions.
The project scope required a resilient solution featuring over 100 handsets, a new switchboard console, voicemail, instant messaging, a call queuing system for reception, and integration with legacy telephony services. Unifi’s proposed solution met all technical specifications and offered a highly competitive commercial package.
With a strong background in healthcare technology, Unifi’s expertise provided St Raphael’s IT team with the confidence they needed, knowing they were partnered with an IT provider that understands the unique demands and challenges involved in delivering quality healthcare services.
The requirement.
The solution.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager on a virtualized VMware platform.
Unifi was selected for this project because their proposed solution not only met but exceeded all requirements, offering robust redundancy. Additionally, Unifi provided the most competitive pricing, supporting the hospice’s funding model. With proven experience in delivering healthcare collaboration solutions, Unifi gave St Raphael’s confidence that their critical communications platform was in expert hands.
Unifi’s solution included Cisco Jabber and Cisco WebEx, introducing cloud-based services to enable seamless video consultations.
The deployment was centered around Cisco Unified Communications Manager, with Unifi integrating a comprehensive suite of Cisco Unified Collaboration tools complemented by products from Gamma.
The core telephony functions were hosted on a Cisco Business Edition 6000 virtual server appliance, delivering call control, voicemail, presence, contact center, and switchboard capabilities.
Unifi delivered a full-service approach, including a dedicated project manager who held regular meetings with hospice stakeholders to provide progress updates and technical support throughout the rollout.
After configuring the system and installing hardware, Unifi conducted comprehensive System Acceptance Testing (SAT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with key hospice personnel. Additionally, tailored, engineer-led administration training was provided to ensure technical staff could confidently manage the system.
The hospice has also opted for Unifi’s managed support services, extending the partnership for ongoing system support and maintenance.
The solution.
- Hardware maintenance costs greatly reduced
- Call charges reduced drastically by taking advantage of SIP trunks for outbound calls
- All hardware and licencing procured for the project are owned by the hospice. Future Proof Design
- Hybrid cloud deployment allows for future consolidation of resources into a full private cloud environment
- Platform is ready for video. Adding endpoints would allow video calls from desktop clients or room systems
- Cisco Jabber allows instant messaging included at no extra cost
- Easy addition of firewall traversal services will enable telephony and video services to be consumed by users outside of the corporate environment