Renfrewshire Council

As a number of teams across the council continue to adapt to their new hybrid ways of working, our ICT colleagues have been working to ensure that we have the technology and equipment to support our new flexible working arrangements.

With more of us working flexibly, and across multiple locations the team has reviewed our telephone system and usage policy and will be making a number of changes that will be implemented across the council and our schools in the coming months, beginning with our Finance and Resources Service later this month.

Desk phones

All individual desk phones will be removed with the ability to make calls moving to Microsoft Teams telephony. MS Teams has been a key communication tool for many during the pandemic. We've used it for messaging, file sharing, video and voice chats, and soon colleagues will also be able to make and answer calls directly on their laptop wherever they are working and connected to the Council network (either wired or WiFi).

As well as providing greater flexibility, by using MS Teams telephony, we can now keep all our communication activities (chat, messaging, video calls, phone calls) in a single place, making things easier to track, improving productivity.

Phone numbers

At the same time as moving to MS Teams telephony we will also be moving from the 0141 618 xxxx numbers.

Details of your new number will be provided by ICT closer to the time of your transition, and you will be encouraged to update your colleagues and key contacts in advance.

In the meantime please check if your phone number is published on the council website, intranet or on partner websites and publications. You can do this on the council website and intranet by using the search function, simply type in your number in quotation marks as follows "0141 618 xxxx".

These numbers will need to be updated, so please highlight any examples and report them to your manager.

Mobile phones

The CMT agreed a set of design principles in relation to telephony. Smartphones will only be provided when users need to access:

• application related data outside of your home, a council office or locations that don't have free wi-fi
• your emails and calendar outside of your home, a council office or locations that don't have free wi-fi.

It is clear from the data that many smartphones are rarely used so we are anticipating a reduction in numbers during this transition.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

The Council now has an approved BYOD policy for Android and IOS phones.

If you have or had a council mobile phone you can apply for BYOD.

If you don't have a council phone, you'll need to wait until the new telephony system is rolled out. If you do apply now, we'll keep your details on record and let you know when BYOD is available.

There are two types of BYOD:

• use your own mobile number and contract allowance in relation to calls and data usage
• use your own handset with a Council provided second physical sim or e-sim (only certain phone models can support these options so staff will need to check this for their own devices before asking for / agreeing to this). In this scenario, you will have your own phone number linked to your personal contract and a Council number that can be used for business calls, please note this will not affect your call minutes. You will also be able to access email, your calendar and teams, but this will use your own personal mobile data package.

If you don't have a council phone, you'll need to wait to apply for BYOD while the new telephony system is being rolled out. If you do apply now, we'll keep your details on record and let you know when BYOD is available.

Shared phones

There will also be "lobby" phones in some locations - these will be shared phones where staff do not have access to MS Teams telephony. The number of "lobby" phones in a location will be determined by the number of people requiring access to a shared phone.

Next steps

ICT are continuing to engage with managers to understand the telephone requirements of their teams, and individual colleagues.

You will be contacted directly by ICT in the run-up to the transition, with information and guidance on how the changes impact upon you and any actions you must complete to ensure a smooth transition.

Published on Wednesday 31 August 2022