Bridging risk mitigation and unified communications in healthcare facilities

The need

In 2018, the Province of Nova Scotia identified healthcare facilities across the province with communications systems at increased risk due to aging and unsupported telecommunications infrastructure. In order to mitigate this risk, it was important that a “like for like” telephony solution be quickly deployed. Once higher priority facilities were upgraded and risks mitigated, the project pivoted to deploy a new solution at healthcare facilities that aligned with the Province’s future state voice communications solution. Barrington was engaged in 2019 as the Province’s implementation partner of choice for the Voice Modernization project.

The solution

In order to quickly deploy a “like for like” telephony solution, Barrington supported the Province with a full suite of services. This included early discovery work, identification, budget development, approvals, and the execution of healthcare facility upgrades. The Barrington Team also assessed the following three alternatives for replacing the telephony services delivered by the obsolete (and soon-to-be-obsolete) PBX systems across Nova Scotia:

• A new on-premise PBX option;
• Centrex; and
• A cloud-hosted solution.

The Barrington Team explored multiple vendors and ultimately, a lowest cost “like for like” approach was chosen for the risk mitigation portion of the project.

The results

Due to the expertise and support of the Barrington Team, the Voice Modernization project has been able to achieve the following:

• Developed a compelling business case that ultimately secured funding for the execution of the Voice Modernization project.
• Built comprehensive, multi-scenario models to forecast the cost of the current and future solution options over a multi-year period.
• Developed a multi-year road map and budget that has, and will continue to, guide the upgrade of healthcare facilities within Nova Scotia.

To date, the Barrington Team has supported the delivery of voice communications system upgrades at multiple healthcare facilities across the province.