ACHA SIGN THREE YEAR SHARED SERVICES IT CONTRACT WITH ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL

Norman Beaton Chairman of Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) met Council Leader Dick Walsh recently to sign a three year contract which will see the council delivering ACHA’s core information technology service.

ACHA’s IT department specified its needs having considered the current and potential future objectives of the organisation for its tenants. The council IT Team were tested against that specification with national private sector suppliers through an EU compliant tendering process and demonstrated a thorough understanding of the demands faced by ACHA to provide a high quality service to its clients and its aspirations to be a leader in the housing sector. The contract, which will generate almost £1.5m of additional revenue for the council, is one of its first shared service partnerships. This partnership will go some way to fulfilling this goal. ACHA will benefit from access to the Wide Area Network of the Broadband pathfinder installation and a Local Area Network solution which includes the latest Unified Communications and SharePoint technology from Microsoft, a virtualised server environment and a new contact centre solution from Clarity in the USA. These new and innovative systems will be installed by the council’s IT team who will ensure ACHA’s IT needs are delivered to the highest standards. The on-going services will be managed in conjunction with ACHA’s IT team.

Following the signing of the contract Council Leader Dick Walsh said, “I am delighted that the council has been given this opportunity to form this shared service partnership with ACHA. We are incredibly proud of the Council’s IT service and I hope that this initial contract period is the start of a long relationship in the technology sector with ACHA.”

ACHA’s Chairman Norman Beaton said, “The IT department of the Council is to be congratulated on winning the contract to provide services to ACHA. We look forward to seeing the benefits of this partnership rolling out to our tenants, other service users and our staff over the next three years. In these difficult economic times we are delighted that we are able to work closely with the Council to deliver a mutual benefit.”