Telco transition gives Chairo a better-fit-solution

Chairo Christian School wanted a more cost-effective telco environment without compromising coverage or service quality across the school.

Dog and Bone compared Chairo’s mobile costs and provider options, then helped the school transition to a provider that offered a better fit. The result was a smooth move to a new provider, cutting Chairo’s monthly mobile spend by more than 69% and reducing the telco admin for its internal IT team.

“The move went smoothly, and we haven’t had any service issues raised since the change. That gave us confidence the new arrangement was the right fit.” – Mark Smith, ICT Operations Manager, Chairo Christian School

The client

Chairo is an independent Christian school in regional Victoria, with campuses in West and South Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley and the south-eastern outskirts of Melbourne. Its multi-campus environment means that telecommunications need to support a wide range of locations and use cases, while remaining reliable, cost-effective and manageable for the internal IT team.

The context

Chairo wanted to make sure it was getting value from its telco services and that the set-up suited the school’s needs. Pricing was only part of the decision-making process. Coverage, reliability and specific technical requirements all mattered, as did reducing the time that members of the IT team spent on day-to-day telco admin.

The approach

We reviewed Chairo’s telco set-up and compared alternative options, factoring in both commercial and technical requirements.

To reduce the risk of disruption, we also tested the proposed network before the move. We compared coverage across Chairo’s campus locations, checked for any network gaps, and provided test SIMs so the school could put the new network through its paces.

Our scope included:

• reviewing existing services and costs;

• benchmarking alternative providers;

• assessing coverage across Chairo’s locations;

• testing the proposed network in practice;

• identifying services with specific technical requirements; and

• planning and supporting the migration.

The outcome

Most notably, Chairo’s monthly mobile spend reduced by more than 69%.

The new arrangement delivered substantial savings, while improving the service experience that Chairo needed. The migration was smooth, with no coverage or dropout issues reported following the change.

The result was a telco environment that better balanced cost, coverage, technical fit and internal effort.

“We value having Dog and Bone’s support team handle day-to-day telco requests, taking some of the load off our IT team.” – Mark Smith, ICT Operations Manager, Chairo Christian School

Additionally, to give the team ongoing visibility of its telco services and usage, Chairo subscribed to one of our telco management services: Telco Reporting. Our analysts use Chairo’s monthly telco data to identify trends, issues and opportunities, helping the school stay on top of its telco environment over time.