Case Study: North Wales Police

Ambitious Goals

Following a European tendering exercise four years ago, Kcom was selected to replace North Wales Police IT infrastructure, installing an IP VPN network across 76 sites and upgrading the existing telephony system. As technology evolved, it became apparent that substantial savings could be made by altering the telephony setup and a fully converged IP voice and data solution became feasible. The new system has enabled further savings, improved access to criminal data and facilitated the move to become carbon neutral by 2015.

“We are working towards a number of IT based goals; to become cost neutral, i.e. technology must pay for itself; to be carbon neutral by 2015; and to reduce our use of desktop and laptop computers, most of which are more powerful than we need and therefore too costly. Our old systems were inefficient and simply could not deliver the functionality increasingly required across our territory,” said Ian Davies, Projects and Customer Services Manager at North Wales Police.What they said

At first it was a case of more power to the network and dealing with functionality problems arising from an outdated telephony system. Importantly North Wales Police wanted a supplier that could be completely trusted to fully manage the whole data and voice system as they did not want to manage it internally. The first move was to put in place an IP VPN with increased power across the larger sites and equipping the remaining smalle r sites with 2Mbps IPVPN service. Alongside this the Mitel analogue phone system was upgraded in line with available budget.

Self funding IT

Technology developments and price changes meant that a new, scalable IP based telephony solution and the chance to really impact on the key goals, became a possibility. Kcom demonstrated that major line rental savings could be made under the new price structure, which could then be reinvested into a tailored Cisco based IP solution.

“The force has a large number of desktop computers and laptops, many of which have a processing capacity/specification in excess of most users’ requirements. Primarily users need to access our Record Management System – where all criminal data, finger prints and photographs are held.The new IP phones have an LCD screen where all RMS data can be easily accessed and viewed. 3000 phones are now in place and will substitute many laptops as leases run out. Our goal is to see a 10-15% reduction in the laptop fleet which would translate to a £50,000 per annum saving.”

“Kcom also invested a lot of time bench testing the IP phones and video-conferencing cameras, inviting staff to sample the technology and give feedback.  All were impressed with the technology and really felt the value of being consulted for their views.”

A Bigger Green Footprint

Further cost and green issues also drove North Wales Police to look into putting a complete videoconferencing solution in place across all 76 sites.

“Many of our officers were making a three hour return journey once a week, to discuss their cases with lawyers and gather their advice. They always took a fully equipped force car in case of occurrences on the journey and the cars obviously picked up wear and tear, added mileage and used diesel. The impact on the environment and on our budget was huge.”

Kcom put in place eight video-conferencing suites in order to demonstrate the potential benefits and worked with a business benefits realisation accountant to pull together the real figures that would build the case for investment. A videoconferencing solution is now in place across the whole region and will facilitate team briefings, internal communications from senior officers and the progress of emergency situations.

“Kcom also worked with Cisco to deliver a mini telephone system for the four personal assistants that support the Chief of Police and his direct team. They are always on the move, very in demand and often dealing with high profile politicians and sensitive situations. The ability to move with them and deal with calls quickly and flexibly is vital. The new system enables them to do so.”

The changes have been major and with them have come inevitable challenges.

“Training a police force is no easy task. Kcom came up with several bespoke tools to ease the path; it is not unusual for Kcom staff to be discussing IP phones while sitting on a custody site in a cell! We trust Kcom implicitly; they are quite capable of handling major issues in sensitive, dynamic and potentially dangerous situations. The relationship is special, Kcom wishes to continually improve its services for this market and we are happy to be a test bed because it always works.”

Ian Davies, Projects and Customer Services Manager, North Wales