Citizens Advice Manchester Take to the Cloud with ASUS
With lockdowns affecting businesses nationally, various initiatives and transformations quickly took place to keep operations running smoothly and teams at work. Stuart Pearson, the Chief Digital Officer at Citizens Advice Manchester with the help of Ancoris – a Google Cloud premier partner -took his team from 140 people working from one location, to working from 140 separate locations in a matter of days.
The Challenges Citizens Advice Manchester Faced
Like many companies, Citizens Advice Manchester faced the following challenges:- How do we keep our staff of over one hundred members working normally and productively, despite working away from the office?
- How do we continue to interact with people seeking advice?
- How do we scale something quickly?
- What’s a cost-effective solution to this challenge?
Moving to the Cloud and Google Workspace
The company adopted a cloud-first approach, with a focus on Chromebooks utilising the Google Workspace. Working from the cloud, they could quickly implement company-wide ways of working, with everyone accessing the same workspace, wherever they were signing in from. Using the cloud also meant that devices provided to staff didn’t need to be unnecessarily powerful or expensive. Additionally, the company could set up digital ways of interacting with not only each other, but also those seeking advice without adding risk to involved parties. Once they’d confirmed their approach, they needed help activating it. With a significant percentage of their user-base unable or unwilling to use means of communication like telephones and digital channels, Citizens Advice Manchester needed to devise a way of continuing their operations through digital means. Approaching Ancoris with the idea of utilising Google Meet Hardware in partner venues, Ancrois provided the company with ASUS Google Meet demonstration hardware to the company free of charge for a month, to test the efficacy of such a solution. Having set up the hardware in an SureStart Center interview room, using Google’s Calendar platform to schedule appointments, and assigning advisors for sessions, they invited visitors to enter the room, simply clicking the touchscreen to start their digital face-to-face meeting with advisors working from home.The Results
Ancoris’ results were outstanding: “The pilot was hugely successful. From the start, the sessions were — and continue to be — fully booked. Because the system is so simple to use, with no mouse, keyboard or menu system to navigate, clients can meet with advisors without needing any digital skills. Advisers also love the solution because they can still see non-verbal clues when talking to clients, while it’s easy for them to manage appointments through Google Calendar and for managers to swap in a different adviser if necessary. Our partner loves it, too, because the system is easy for clients to use and very reliable, so their staff don’t find themselves pulled into providing support. Other outreach partners were soon asking us to take the same approach at their venues. Within a year, we’ll have installed Google Meet hardware in over a half a dozen locations. The limiting factor now is the availability of advisors.” (Source)The ASUS Google Hangouts Meet Hardware Kit
The ASUS Google Hangouts Meet Hardware Kit provides an all-in-one solution for those looking to expand and evolve the way they work and interact. Featuring an ASUS Google Meet Compute System, a 4K UHD camera, a touchscreen control panel for easy meeting management, and a high-quality Google Meet Speakermic for crystal-clear audio and mic-quality, it’s the perfect affordable solution for conferences, meetings, and unique use-cases such as that of Citizens Advice Manchester. Want to bring ways of working and interacting via cloud computing to your enterprise? Get in touch with ASUS Business today.
