seescape

ORGANISATION PROFILE

seescape is a charity supporting those with sight loss in Fife and has been in existence for over 150 years. Previously known as the Fife Society for the Blind, seescape is the leading provider of support for people experiencing sight loss in Fife and holds the contract with Fife Health and Social Care Partnerships to deliver these services in the community. The organisation has a rich history which began with the teaching of Braille. Today, their wide range of services include an optician’s practice focussing on eye health, befriending, and developing skills for independent living. They also provide information and training in using assistive technology. Their aim is to expand horizons for those experiencing sight loss in Fife.

Challenges

After a negative customer service experience with a previous provider, seescape was  looking to find a better alternative when their old contract ended. Their main priority was to reduce costs. They also felt they could benefit from more technical support. seescape had received funding to purchase phones for the charity and were looking for the most cost-effective solution.  The major challenges they had faced with their old contract were a lack of communication and difficulty resolving technical problems. Sheila Rogers, Corporate Support Manager at seescape, shared some of the issues they faced when searching for mobiles:

“Our main priority was to reduce costs – for our new contract to be as cheap as possible. We are a small organisation and ICT is not our speciality, so we were looking for a bit of extra help there.

Our previous experience with a major network had been a bit of a nightmare – it was a two-year contract and after it came to an end the individual salesperson who worked with us had moved on. There was just no direct help after that… Support was being told to go into the local phone shops, which just didn’t work for us. With our old provider, it was really like pulling teeth. It turned out that what we got wasn’t actually what we needed.”

The GoodCall Solution

GoodCall helped set up 14 new lines for the charity. Mobile phones are primarily used within the organisation for data hotspots and lone working purposes. However, their requirements changed during lockdown as they wanted to make sure the team could transition smoothly into homeworking. Their mobiles will also assist the Sight Support and Community Engagement Teams when they go back out into the community and engage with clients and volunteers. GoodCall worked to understand these diverse needs, providing a range of options based on the charity’s specifications. Sheila said:

“Elaine came up with a comprehensive range of options and had listened very carefully to what we needed. Sometimes, you can be presented with 25 very different possibilities and are left to muddle through it yourself – to me that’s not really much use. Elaine really helped us narrow it down and made it easy to understand.

I don’t really want to have to trawl through websites and terms and conditions, I would much rather work with someone who is living and breathing this and can quickly reply with an answer. In the end, GoodCall impressed me on price, the high level of service and convenience.”

Impact

The main positive impact on the charity was being able to access support when any questions or problems arose. The charity particularly values the monthly reporting and account management support provided by GoodCall. When Sheila encountered a problem, she knew that she could get technical help quickly:

“I hadn’t realised that our old phones from our previous contract had been locked – we have had an ongoing problem with this, but the GoodCall team have been attentive and responsive when helping to sort it out. We really want people who have ICT knowledge, not just a sales pitch.”

She also valued the monthly reporting as this was not something provided to the organisation on their previous plan. Identifying overspend was a major advantage and having that support there when needed:

“It quickly highlighted where someone was spending money that they shouldn’t need to – the team were so quick in alerting us to numbers that had not been added into the inclusive minutes. I wouldn’t have been able to easily get that kind of information before… We know that GoodCall have the in-house expertise and we’d like to tap into that knowledge when we need it. There is also definitely something great about working with a social enterprise – it’s good that suppliers can give back. ”

Recommendation

“We were very happy with the deal that GoodCall created for us – I felt they understood our needs as a charity and worked to get us the best possible option. We would recommend GoodCall to other third sector organisations in our area.”

Sheila Rogers, Corporate Support Manager

You can read more about the fantastic work of seescape on their website: https://www.seescape.org.uk/