Esteem To Give Bradford MDC More Time In Community
6 April 2004
Esteem Systems, one of the UK’s leading IT infrastructure solutions providers, has won a contract with the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council to design, install and support a solution for mobile workers based on 02’s GPRS network service.
The solution will initially be delivered to 75 Council employees and will be designed to increase productivity and efficiency by enabling them to access information via laptops / Tablet PCs whilst out of the office. This means workers will be able to spend more time out in the community and will be able to view applications and amend database information and case notes as and when they need to.
The project will use O2’s GPRS network and laptops / Tablet PCs to access Bradford MDC’s network including the existing VPN and Citrix server farm in order to deliver secure access to emails, reports and case notes. For a set charge, which includes a monthly line rental, the Council will receive half a Gigabyte of data per month to enable users to work in a more responsive, cost effective fashion.
The solution will use a combination of VPN and Citrix MetaFrame Xpe via Sierra wireless cards to access a variety of information sources including social services applications from Anite Software (Swift). Esteem, a Citrix Platinum Partner, will work alongside the Council during the implementation project and then provide on-going support to maintain the solution throughout its life-cycle.
Ian Sampson, E-Care Manager at Bradford MDC, said: “This flexible way of working will enable us to deploy a GPRS mobility solution that is cost effective and efficient. We trialled a number of solutions when we were looking to achieve remote working capabilities for our social services team and this was the only one that actually worked for us.
“We are now seeing improvements in terms of the level of service we can offer citizens as we can visit homes and access real time information. This means we can be much more responsive to ‘customer’ needs and offer our employees a more satisfying way of working.
“Esteem’s support throughout the project will be vital and we look forward to building a strong relationship with them.”
If you require any further information, please contact our Press Officer on 01937 861000 or e-mail on press@esteem.co.uk
