THE SIMKIN CENTRE TURNS TO ALLSTREAM TO IMPROVE TELEPHONE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE COSTS
The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre of the Sharon Home Inc. provides shelter, care and support services to seniors in Winnipeg’s Jewish community.
CHALLENGE
The Simkin Centre needed to reduce costs and improve telephone system performance for its new facility, while providing care with dignity to its residents.
SOLUTION The organization relied on Allstream to implement IP Telephony and a full maintenance solution, and to manage the complex logistics of transferring phone service to its new site.
OUTCOMES
- Saved $2,400 per year on Moves, Adds, Changes and Deletions (MACDs)
- Reduced administration by roughly two hours per month
- Enhanced worker satisfaction by introducing new features such as auto-attendant
- Improved resident safety by strengthening telephony system
When it was built over 90 years ago as western Canada’s first Jewish home for the aged, The Simkin Centre was a modest facility in Winnipeg’s north end. In 2001, the organization built a south branch that featured 72 beds. By 2006, consolidation of its two sites prompted it to close its north location and add 128 beds to its existing 72-bed facility. With a $30 million expansion of its south facility, this state-of-theart centre now features 200 beds, a Kosher kitchen, and dining areas on each unit.
As part of this renovation, The Simkin Centre wanted to do more than install a new IP Telephony system. In the short term, it wanted to work with partners that could oversee the complex logistics of installing telephone wires throughout the construction and assist with a seamless rollover of its phone systems from one facility to the other. Over time, it also wanted to reduce the costs it had been incurring for telephony administration and maintenance. That’s when it turned to Allstream.
SOLUTION
Before construction even began, Allstream worked with The Simkin Centre to design a flexible infrastructure that can grow as the facility expands. This allowed The Simkin Centre to select the features it most needed for its initial rollout – which included IP Telephony across the facility’s four buildings, as well as auto-attendant functionality that allows The Simkin Centre to route calls to the reception desk of its choice.
To keep costs in check, Allstream helped The Simkin Centre run cable throughout its buildings during the construction phase. It also carefully
timed the facility’s telephony system rollover to prevent any interruption in service. This was critical as any service interruption can potentially compromise the safety of the facility’s 200 residents. Finally, to reduce costs over time, The Simkin Centre entrusted Allstream with the full maintenance of its telephony system. In addition to vastly simplifying administration and streamlining MACDs, this provides The Simkin Centre with the assurance that any problems will be rapidly resolved through either remote diagnostics or on-site response for major incidents.
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
Since completing its IP Telephony rollout, The Simkin Centre has:
- Saved $2,400 per year on MACDs
- Saved roughly two hours per month on administration
- Enhanced worker satisfaction and customer service with auto-attendant functionality
- Improved resident safety by enhancing the stability of its telephony system
