Looking Beyond the Telco Contract: Local Government Case Study

As a metropolitan council's community, workforce and service footprint continue to expand, they need telecommunications services that can keep pace.

Council engaged us to independently assess its telco environment, improve the value of its existing services and prepare for future contract decisions. This included mobile optimisation, broader benchmarking across mobility, WAN, contact centre and telephony, and proactive telco management.

Here’s how this Council is making sure its telco environment delivers value today while building a tactical roadmap for what comes next.

The client

Rapid growth of a Melbourne metro council brings increasing demand on Council’s people, sites, systems and services. Council supports a workforce of more than 1,000 people, working across office, field, community-facing and hybrid roles, with its operational footprint expected to significantly expand.

Telco services are central to keeping those teams connected and supporting the community effectively, including Public WiFi, customer service helpline, connectivity for community hubs and mobile services for outreach workers.

The opportunity

Council had already taken important steps to improve value through specialised government (VTS) pricing. Rather than assume its mobile fleet was fully optimised with VTS pricing, it sought an independent view of how services were performing in practice.

The initial engagement focused on Council’s mobile environment. It looked for opportunities to right-size services, consolidate arrangements and improve cost control - examining billing, usage, account structures and the application of contracted pricing.

With telco contract decisions approaching within 12 months, Council proactively expanded the scope well before a due date to include benchmarking.

It wanted to understand whether its broader telco environment - Mobility, WAN, Contact Centre and Telephony - remained fit for purpose, competitively priced and capable of supporting organisational change and continued community growth. Leveraging our industry knowledge, benchmarking needed to consider more than cost, a single vendor or contract and whether government pricing was the best option.

Listening to the organisation

The benchmarking work began with a structured stakeholder engagement process.

We facilitated a series of workshops over two weeks, bringing together representatives from Council leadership, IT, customer service, asset management, billing and contract management. It also included an extensive documentation review and consolidation of Council’s own analysis.

Discussions explored Council’s current experience and future needs across the four service areas:

• Mobility - mobile services, device selection, mobile device management, coverage and support for field and hybrid teams

• WAN - connectivity, resilience, security and support for Council’s growing site footprint across council sites, Public WiFi, remote workers

• Contact centre - customer experience, functionality, efficiency and support for community enquiries

• Telephony – Microsoft Teams and support of collaboration, calling, usability, access on mobile devices and system integration

Several clear themes emerged. Council’s growing community and expanding site footprint were increasing the importance of reliable connectivity, coverage and flexible access for field and hybrid teams.

Council also wanted better value, access to emerging technologies like AI, less administrative overhead and greater control over service changes.

Our approach

We assessed each of the service areas using a consistent framework:

• Current-state assessment

• Review of operational and technical requirements

• Identification of risks, gaps and trade-offs

• Benchmarking of available market options and costs

• Assessment of cost, functionality and service capability

• Recommended roadmap and next steps

• Future considerations for contract and technology decisions

Each option was assessed against the factors that would determine whether it could work for Council in practice. Options identified were assessed against cost and long-term value, coverage, reliability, functionality, service levels, transition risk, implementation effort, scalability, provider support and alignment with Council’s technology direction.

This gave Council a rounded view of value and risk, rather than a simple comparison of supplier prices.

Improving value and planning ahead

The initial mobile optimisation work showed the value of getting into the service and billing detail. It also provided the opportunity for immediate impact and savings, while undertaking the longer-term planning

That review identified and implemented:

• More than $310,000 in projected mobile savings over 12 months

• Hundreds of mobile and data services reviewed and optimised

• Better alignment between services and actual usage

• Greater visibility and control of pricing, billing and ongoing spend

The broader benchmarking and long-term roadmap engagement built on that foundation. It showed that different service areas across mobility, WAN, contact centre and telephony called for different responses. In some cases, retaining and improving existing arrangements offered the best path. In others, Council could consider restructuring services, testing the market or adopting a different delivery model.

"Our telecommunications environment supports teams working across a growing number of sites, in the field and directly with the community. We wanted to look beyond individual contracts and understand what Council will need in the years ahead. The independent review gave us a clear view of our current position, the options available and the trade-offs involved in each decision." - CIO, VIC metro council

Looking across other local government engagements, opportunities for telco optimisation typically exist in six areas, as illustrated here:

A tactical roadmap for what comes next

The benchmarking exercise and roadmap have provided Council with a structured foundation for its future telecommunications decisions:

• Consolidated requirements across mobility, WAN, contact centre and telephony

• Independent assessment of current services and their ongoing fitness for purpose

• Identification of key gaps, risks and improvement opportunities

• Market and cost benchmarking to support informed decision-making

• Clear options for renewal, restructure or market engagement

• Practical consideration of transition effort, risk and internal capacity

• A decision-ready roadmap aligned with Council’s growth and technology direction

This gives Council time to plan ahead, balance competing priorities and step into future procurement from an informed position. This is supported through our procurement approach which explored a wide range of vendors and pricing options.

It also helps avoid change for change’s sake, ensuring investment is directed to the areas that will deliver the strongest operational, financial and community benefit.

“Dog and Bone brought the specialist focus needed to work through each service area in detail and compare the available options. The process helped us consider cost alongside coverage, functionality, risk and implementation effort, giving Council a practical roadmap for future decisions.” - CIO, VIC metro council

Keeping value on track

Dog and Bone continues to manage Council’s telco services and expenses through its Telco Management service, working alongside the Council’s team.

Through ongoing billing validation, usage monitoring, service management and reporting, we help Council protect the value already identified, respond to changing needs and maintain clear visibility of spend.

Supporting a growing community

For a rapidly growing municipality, telco decisions need to balance cost, functionality, risk and the practical needs of the people using the services.

By independently assessing its current environment, testing its options against the market and developing a roadmap for future decisions, Council has taken a proactive and evidence-based approach.

For Council, that means clearer choices, stronger governance and greater confidence about where future investment will deliver the most value. For its teams and community, it means telco services that are reliable, fit for purpose and ready to support continued growth.

Our role is to bring pragmatic structure, evidence, insights and independence.

It starts with a free, confidential assessment by our telco experts, giving the visibility needed to make your next move.

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