VoIP phones ease council's fire disruption

Fife Council's decision to adopt VoIP phones has meant 60 staff are able to continue working after a fire at their headquarters.

Despite the fire being restricted to one room, IT systems were affected which meant Catering & Cleaning and Procurement & Supplies staff were left with no telephone or computer access and had to be relocated.

However, because of the VoIP phones versatility, it was a simple procedure to transfer all the operations to separate buildings, and employees could use their extension numbers to log into other council telephones.

No external supplier or IT service was required, meaning there was no additional cost.

"It made it one less thing to worry about and allowed the teams to speedily get people back working again with the minimum of disruption," said the council's senior IT manager.

"It is proof the phones and our contingency plans have worked - and these are just part of a modernising programme that will help Fife to become a top performing council."

The VoIP solution was rolled out over the council during the last 18 months, and required the replacement of 12,000 telephones.