The Challenge: A complex system across various locations
SSJ began in 1972 when a group of volunteers opened up a church hall as a shelter for a dozen or so unhoused community members. Today, the organization provides a wide range of support to people from all walks of life experiencing homelessness, as well as special services for mental health struggles and individuals battling alcohol or substance abuse.
With nearly 100 service sites in Southampton, Portsmouth, and Hampshire, it was critical for The Society of St. James to be able to communicate seamlessly with staff, vendors, and community members across locations. “Because we've got so many sites, we've got phones and people spread out all over the place,” says Vince Long, IT Manager at SSJ.
Previously, SSJ was using an outdated on-premises system. The system was quite old, and it was always a struggle when the IT team needed support or new parts, which could get quite expensive. Things got even more complicated during the height of the pandemic when the UK was under lockdown.
“During the lockdown, people were all working from home, but none of the phones could support us because they couldn't forward calls,” says Long. “That became the big push to find a reliable, work-from-anywhere solution.”
Long’s team began looking for a cloud-based solution that would provide excellent support for their growing hybrid organization, as well as offer a user-friendly, reliable, and secure platform that fit their budget.
The Solution: A simple platform with an intuitive design
After reviewing several cloud platform solutions, the Society of St. James chose 8x8 as its communications provider. For Long, the decision came down to 8x8’s simplicity and intuitive design. “The reason I like 8x8 is because it is so simple to use. I've looked at different systems and many are really complicated. We would need specialist knowledge or help in setting up exactly how we’d want to use them. But with 8x8, everything was really straightforward, and I was able to set up the system myself.”
When it came to the migration, SSJ worked with 8x8’s experts to develop a personalized, phased migration plan, starting with a test site. Long was able to easily set up new users, port existing phone numbers, and make changes as needed, right from the 8x8 Admin Console. And if he ever had a question or wanted advice on a particular course of action, 8x8’s support was right there to assist. “8x8’s support has been really helpful,” says Long. “They’re quick to respond with great, concise answers. Plus, the online knowledge base is very thorough, it’s a wonderful resource.”
With 8x8 Work, SSJ employees can take and make calls from anywhere, without having to be stuck at their desks or set up complex call-forwarding systems. Additionally, 8x8’s auto attendant feature allows the organization to have personalized, automated voice menus, where callers can get the information that they need or be routed to the right people.
The Benefits: Saving money, time, and stress
Switching to 8x8 has been a massive improvement for the Society of St. James. Not only is the nonprofit saving money on communications, but it’s saving valuable time as well. “With the old system, we had to constantly make changes, and that was a real time drain,” says Long. “Whereas now, people can easily make changes with just a few clicks.” This frees the IT team from the stress of system administration, so they can focus on more important tasks.
According to Long and his team, 8x8 has surpassed expectations, providing an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution across SSJ’s many locations. Additionally, 8x8’s reliability and streamlined approach has been huge for their day-to-day operations. “In the past, there was such a high risk of failure because we were working with old on-prem equipment that was hard to support, as well as relying on third-party supplies that weren’t particularly reliable. There’s so much work involved with supporting a difficult system, made up of many difficult systems. And now, with 8x8, it’s just one easy solution.”
