Safeline provides face to face and online counselling services, prevention projects and a national helpline offering support and advice. It also helps survivors to report abuse to the police and trains professionals to protect and support people affected by sexual abuse and rape.
Safeline previously ran its critical operation with only two phone lines, mismatched software packages and an aging infrastructure. Staff were severely restricted by out-of-date technology and were unable to work remotely. Overcrowding in its small office was a constant issue and storing sensitive data on legacy IT systems was difficult and time intensive.
SRD Technology UK and NaviSite provided Safeline with its DaaS solution Stratus HDS including Microsoft Office 365 running on thin client devices, its cloud based telephony solution Nimbus HVX, hosting for business grade applications, along with world class disaster recovery systems.
The reliability of Safeline’s critical services to survivors has been transformed, leading to incredible results.
· With the same budget, Safeline is now helping 80% more survivors
· The system itself has been totally reliable with zero downtime, enabling Safeline to provide uninterrupted support to survivors
· Safeline has grown its team from 5 to 19 people without needing more office space, and are able to equip them with the IT tools they needed in a matter of minutes
· Safeline has secured new funding in the form of a new national helpline for male survivors of sexual abuse
Safeline has achieved all of this with minimal up-front investment, paying for the DaaS service via a manageable OPEX payment model.
Neil Henderson, CEO, Safeline, said, “The lack of available phone lines meant that there were times when survivors would call and were unable to speak to a counsellor. It takes an enormous amount of courage for a survivor to lift that phone in the first place, and so many would never call back and the opportunity to access the support they desperately needed was lost, possibly forever. The use of DaaS has transformed how the Safeline team is able to work and equipped us to provide a reliable service to clients who desperately need life changing support.”
Simon Darch, Technical Director, SRD Technology UK, said “When we first met with Safeline there was a clear vision of how they wanted to give more freedom and flexibility to staff who support the people contacting the charity. With out-dated IT and Telephony solutions causing disruption for the charity, the cloud solutions we provided alongside our partner NaviSite were a perfect fit. These systems gave Safeline immediate access to an enterprise grade IT solution which was within their budget. By minimising upfront CaPex we have been able to transform the way Safeline operate and are very proud to have Safeline as a key customer and to support the excellent work they do.
Sean McAvan, Managing Director, NaviSite, said, “We’re pleased to be able to support Safeline in their use of IT to drive transformation for the charity so that they can support more people and can run a more efficient operation. Its sensitive client data is now hosted and backed up in NaviSite’s secure, Tier III data centre, making it highly protected. Safeline can be reassured that their data is maintained securely and is kept in compliance with data regulations, as well as benefitting from the enormous productivity gains that the use of DaaS has allowed. NaviSite is proud to be a part of enabling the vital work that Safeline do.”
