ProcessFlows Keeps Communications Flowing for South Oxfordshire District Council

ProcessFlows Kept Text Communications Flowing for South Oxfordshire District Council after Offices and Servers were Destroyed by Fire

When an after-hours arson attack resulted in the devastation of 85% of South Oxfordshire District Council’s premises near Wallingford and the communication systems and servers went up in smoke, managers relied on ProcessFlows to text message the news to staff.

The Council uses a ProcessFlows’ in-house, networked text messaging solution, Text Message Server, to provide bi-directional text to email communications for residents and staff.

Text is used to keep residents up to date – notifying them about any changes to waste collection services (for example, after a bank holiday or any disruption due to snow or flooding), as well as enhancing the delivery of information for specific campaigns, such as announcing local election results.

They have an annual support contract with ProcessFlows, which delivers regular software updates and 24/7 helpdesk.

The council has created and saved (canned) several contact lists. Some of these are opt-in lists of residents signing up for specific notifications, others are call-out lists which form part of their emergency planning policy procedures. This information is held by authorised personnel in off-site locations, as well as on in-house servers. With communications systems down and the Text Message Server destroyed, the Council contacted ProcessFlows to help establish text communications with over 400 employees.

ProcessFlows services support team populated their newly developed SMS Cloud platform, 123-TXT, with the Council’s supplied contact distribution list.

Reply numbers were set up so employees could reply back and communicate with their managers. ProcessFlows provided the Council with direct access to the Cloud text portal so they could continue to broadcast messages and maintain bi-directional communication for as long as they needed.

Graham Reddie, ProcessFlows Development Director said: “I’m pleased we could help South Oxfordshire District Council in their hour of need. It’s proven that our SMS cloud platform has real value in emergency situations like this where communication is essential but potentially impossible.”

ProcessFlows is continuing to develop and enhance the 123-TXT platform. It will be available to all ProcessFlows Text Message Server customers as part of their maintenance plan (free of charge), when it is rolled out later this year. ProcessFlows 123-TXT SMS platform can form part of your emergency planning strategy.

Users will be able to securely store their emergency distribution list on the 123-TXT platform. Then, if the worst does happen, they will be able to establish SMS communications from any web enabled device and initiate their emergency plan. In addition to Text Message Server and the 123-TXT platform, ProcessFlows provides a range of text related services. These include pay-as-you-go text message bundles, virtual mobile numbers and SIM hosting.

Notes to Editor

About ProcessFlows

ProcessFlows, based in the centre of Winchester, Hampshire, is a leading provider of solutions and services designed to improve business processes and communications. Since 1987, ProcessFlows has helped thousands of businesses, local councils and government departments to increase efficiency, improve customer service and implement controls for regulatory compliance.

ProcessFlows combines business process expertise with market leading technology to provide flexible applications and workflows that augment existing systems and can be deployed quickly to provide a fast return on investment. Our nearshore outsource centre in Sofia provides expert support and managed services 24×7. ProcessFlows offers expert advice at every stage – understanding requirements and providing implementation, training, support and on-going customer care.

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For further information, contact:

Loira Browning, ProcessFlows e: enquiries@processflows.co.uk t: +44 (0) 1962 835053