Telephony outsource contract review 2001-02

Report: 21b
Date: 20 November 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the services provided by Damovo in the third year of the contract for outsourced telephony services, running from August 2001 to July 2002. The report gives details of the performance against service levels for the main services. It also highlights a number of improvements that have been made, and looks ahead to initiatives that Damovo will be undertaking in the future.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

Performance

1. Damovo has continued to improve the overall standard of telephony service delivery over the last three years. Performance against Service Level Agreement targets in this reporting period has been achieved or bettered in areas such as helpdesk call answer times, fault restoration and orders completed on time. Customer satisfaction with the service provided, measured by limited circulation survey, ranges from satisfied to good, and the number of customer complaints has halved over the reporting period (from 43 to 21).

2. On a more general front, MPS Security Audit teams have identified a number of gaps in Damovo's policies and practices that the company is addressing as a matter of urgency. This involves close co-operation between Damovo, the MPS Telephony Client Unit and the Security Auditors.

Key changes during the period

3. In addition to routine service delivery, Damovo has taken part in a number of projects with the MPS. These include:

• Provision of a new contact centre for the Serious Crimes Unit
• Provision of a new exchange (PABX) for MPS Recruitment
• Provision of IP telephony for Heron House (MPA)
• Extension of the voicemail service to 34,000 MPS users
• Development and implementation of the 'Silent 999' solution
• Provision of an MPS 'Public Advice Line'

4. An important support project was the introduction, in April 2002, of Cost Centre Billing. This allowed a move from quarterly to monthly invoicing, and gave Cost Centre Managers full visibility of their telephony costs. Work in this area links up with on-going work on asset management, aimed at providing a clear and accurate picture of the distribution of telephony assets, including over 35,000 extensions.

Future outlook

5. Looking to the next reporting period (August 2002 to July 2003), Damovo identified a number of key areas for exploration, which resulted in the developments below:

1. Mobile Virtual Private Network (MVPN) - Damovo negotiated and introduced with effect from January 2003 a more effective way of managing mobile telephony services which has resulted in improved services such as short-code dialling and reduced call-charges;
2. Pager services – Damovo negotiated with Vodapage a change to the process for disposing of under-used and redundant pagers resulting in reduced cancellation fees;
3. IP telephony - Damovo installed an IP telephony service at the MPA’s headquarters at Dean Farrar Street.

6. The MPS will work with Damovo over the coming year to ensure that the contractual relationship continues to meet current and future operational needs.

C. Equality and diversity implications

There are no equality or diversity implications arising from this report.

D. Financial implications

The financial implications are contained in the linked Exempt Appendix.

E. Background papers

This report was based on information from The Telephony Outsourcing Contract Review 2001/2002.

F. Contact details

Report author: Kevin Taylor, Service Delivery Group, DoI, MPS.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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