Leicestershire County Council Choose Azzurri Communications For Telecoms Managed Services

Leicestershire County Council has awarded Azzurri Communications a £2.5 million pound, four year telecoms managed service contract. The contract will see Azzurri provide, manage and support the council’s 3,000-strong mobile telephony estate and their 1,300 fixed landline extensions.  Azzurri won the contract after a highly competitive tender process, facilitated through ESPO (Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation) using the OGC ICT buying solutions framework.

Roderick O’Connor, Assistant Director, Customer Services and Operations, Leicestershire County Council said: “In working closely with Azzurri we have put in place the foundations for the long-term evolution of our telephony strategy, to help us achieve central government targets for greater efficiency.”

O’Connor continues: “Rationalising previously distinct suppliers and services for both mobile services and fixed carrier services will allow us to reduce management complexity and drive down operational costs with anticipated savings of over £600,000 for the initial term.  These savings are integral to the council meeting its efficiency targets.”

The initial phase of the contract will see Leicestershire CC make use of Azzurri Insight (Azzurri’s consultancy, audit and discovery service).  Azzurri Insight supports IT leaders by identifying areas for improvement and innovation in service delivery and business processes.

The council will also utilise Azzurri’s sophisticated ITEM (Intelligent Telecoms Expense Management) tool, to gain from detailed management information and complete control of their mobile and fixed line spend throughout the contract term.

O’Connor concludes: “Fundamentally Azzurri’s role is to ensure our telephony networks have the flexibility to adapt.  We are very keen to capitalise on every opportunity for innovating our IT Service delivery.  Azzurri will play a significant part in ensuring that this is achieved. The development of the contract will allow all parties to work closely together to identify and apply new applications and processes that result in significant financial or operational improvements.”

Mark Quartermaine, CEO, Azzurri Communications, said: “Public Sector organisations are looking for the best possible value, but to retain the ability to be flexible and innovative with their ICT. We believe our deep experience of consolidating numerous suppliers into one comprehensive managed service, across the entire telecoms spectrum, is why more and more Public Sector organisations are choosing us as a trusted partner.”