A future-ready comms solution for LEAF

How ADECS helped a UK farming charity replace an outgrown VoIP system with a flexible Bright UC solution, supporting home, hybrid and rural working with first-class support.

We've got a future-ready comms solution that is super easy to use, with a fixed, predictable cost model and first-class support.

Steve Jones, Chief Operating Officer, LEAF

LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) is a UK-registered charity that works to promote more sustainable farming to create a resilient food and farming system for future generations.

For over 30 years, they have led the development and promotion of Integrated Farm Management, supporting farming practices that balance productivity with environmental care. Their aim is to inspire and enable farming that is economically viable, enhances the natural environment, and actively engages local communities.

But rural locations and remote workers were proving a challenge for communication and collaboration, so when a move to new offices was announced, it was time for LEAF to push the button on a new phone system.

The Challenge

LEAF had completely outgrown their existing hosted VoIP phone system, which lacked the flexibility they needed, whilst basic day-to-day functionality was proving problematic. A complete refresh was long overdue, when an office move presented the ideal opportunity for that fresh start.

"Our legacy system was very desk-phone focused, and that made it hard to support our home and hybrid workers. If people weren't in the office, they couldn't make or receive calls unless they used their mobiles."

"The nature of our work also means we often find ourselves operating from rural locations, with either limited or patchy mobile coverage, resulting in poor call quality or no service at all."

Call handling was another sticking point. Their system offered extremely limited hunt groups and didn't support any kind of intelligent routing. The team were only able to divert calls to a single number with a single mailbox for any overspill, meaning all voicemail messages ended up in the same place, regardless of who they were intended for.

Additionally, Steve was looking to upgrade his service levels. "We don't have a technical IT team in-house, so we needed a supplier who could give us proactive advice and responsive, day-to-day support. We have effectively used ADECS as our IT team for a good few years now, the support we receive is excellent in every way. It was the natural step to speak to them about a new system."

The Approach

Over the course of a series of meetings, Steve talked ADECS through LEAF's challenges and requirements, and the team gathered all the information needed to design a solution that would both address existing issues and add the flexibility so desperately needed.

Once the scope and proposed solution was agreed, we built a telephony system tailored to their immediate needs and challenges, whilst ensuring it was fit for the future too.

"The whole process was really straightforward. Any questions we had were answered quickly, and we had reassurance throughout."

LEAF's new office space was based within a serviced business centre, and we worked closely with the centre's IT team to ensure a smooth transition, keeping any downtime during the live switchover to an absolute minimum. User training was also provided, giving staff a clear, simple introduction to the new system.

The Results

The team at LEAF immediately started to reap the benefits of their new Bright UC solution, gaining the flexibility and collaboration they needed, as well as genuine choices in how and where they work.

Staff can now make and receive calls via softphones and headsets, desk phones, or their mobiles, wherever they are, with one seamless, scalable system. Rather than reaching for their mobiles, they are opting to use their softphones more often than not, due to the ease of use and superior call quality.

Call handling has improved significantly, creating a more professional experience for clients and a better day-to-day experience for users. Home or remote working is fully supported, and office-based calls are no longer affected by poor mobile signal, as they run over the Wi-Fi network.

"When we are on site for training or events, we no longer have to worry about mobile coverage. Farms or rural conference locations tend to have good broadband, so staying in touch is much, much easier. It's made a huge difference."

Those call routing challenges and that lone, overloaded mailbox are now a thing of the past too. "With ADECS support, we can easily change or tweak our hunt groups or call handling patterns in minutes, whilst any voicemails hit the right person's own mailbox. We've also recorded our own messages for the intelligent routing, to add a personal touch."

From a service perspective, having just one supplier to manage LEAF's IT services alongside their voice provision is a major benefit. "The support is incredibly positive. The team are all quick to respond, and because everything is handled by one provider, I don't need to juggle third parties or multiple suppliers. ADECS understands our set-up, and our aims, and it just works."

"Would we recommend ADECS? Absolutely."