From the densely populated Central Belt to the wide open glens of the Highlands and the remote western islands, Scotland is a massively diverse nation. It’s easy to forget sometimes that Scotland is roughly half the size of England, but has a population 11 times smaller, making it a much less densely populated country. This national geography means that it’s vital that Scottish enterprises can access proper digital support and mobile connectivity – crucial at the best of times, let alone during a pandemic that dramatically impacted the way we function as a society and an economy.
Supported by the government’s new Digital Strategy, an array of companies are working to help SMEs deal with the impact of Covid-19 and the shift to digital – for example, fintech startups such as Striver, which offers vouchers for local shops, and bePayd, which enables even small businesses to access instant payments for invoices. Vodafone Business is doing its part to support SMEs as they scale and shift to digital by offering unrivalled mobile connections and support across Scotland, helping firms maintain a physical presence and overcome the nation’s challenging geography.
“The real problem for Scotland is that, frankly, we’ve got mountains that get in the way. It’s that basic,” explains Iain Fiddes, who manages IT for Scottish charity Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS). “And the population is so distributed through the rural areas that just getting telephone and data services into those areas is problematic.” CHAS was founded in 1992 and provides full family care to children with life-shortening conditions and their families.
The charity, which aims to reach the 16,700 children in Scotland who are living with a life-shortening condition, offers services ranging from end of life care at its two hospices in East and West Scotland and in hospitals across the country, to at-home and virtual support for families.
“Unfortunately, along comes Covid and makes things a little more complicated,” says Fiddes. The pandemic forced the charity to shift to almost entirely at-home or virtual services, as most of its users were forced to shield to protect their vulnerable child users from being infected by Covid. “It takes what’s already a difficult situation for families and makes it almost impossible. They’re basically locked down in their houses,” explains Fiddes. “If you’re not in a situation with these kinds of issues to deal with on a daily basis, most people don’t have a clue what it’s like.” The charity now uses Vodafone Business, which Fiddes says has the best rural connectivity of any network, to support its at-home outreach work. It was also able to take advantage of Vodafone Business’ public sector framework pricing, which allows organisations to buy services in bulk, effectively cutting down time and cost.
The impact of lockdown meant offering the kind of medical, social and financial support CHAS gives to these families was all the more vital, but now most of it had to be done online. The charity now provides an array of online support sessions for the families, such as clown doctors, where the doctors that these kids may see every day are dressed up as clowns and having fun.
On top of that, the hospice also had to adjust to sending far more care or medical staff to visit homes in rural parts of Scotland for families who were now struggling to visit the in-person hospices due to Covid. As a result, CHAS needed stable mobile and internet connections to read the medical files of the children they were visiting, as well as make real-time adjustments to their care. “A nurse or a doctor going into a family home needs to be able to connect to our IT systems to immediately know about the treatment they’re receiving,” says Fiddes, who explains the charity has been able to double the distanced services it provides during the pandemic as well as massively increase its at-home support. “And really it would not have been possible had we not been able to use the mobile capabilities that Vodafone is able to provide us.”
And being able to run those services offers a lifeline for those families already going through an unthinkably painful experience. “CHAS has helped us in so many ways throughout. From the weekly kindness calls made to us for a chat to see that we were okay, to the Virtual Hospice activities that brightened all our days,” explains one of the families being supported by the service. “We are more grateful than you could know, for all you do for families like ours.”
As another put it: “It was nice to know someone was thinking of us and it helped to reduce our feelings of isolation. As a family, this was very powerful.”
Vodafone Business provides more than just a stable connection for their services, says Fiddes. The company also offers unrivalled personalised support for whatever their users need. “We need our partners to be interested in our success… What we’re doing is critically important and if they don’t get that, they don’t have the same sense of value that we do,” he explains. “Our relationship with Vodafone really embodies that shared sense of value… [Our Vodafone contact] is responsive, he listens and is there for us when we’ve needed him, and, most of all, he’s interested.”
As a result of it all, Fiddes says CHAS is now moving to exclusively using Vodafone Business for all its telephony and connectivity needs and will continue to conduct many services online and at patients’ homes in future.
And it is just one of countless other organisations across Scotland and the UK being helped by Vodafone Business’ tech solutions. “We know businesses of all sizes face challenges when it comes to integrating technology, and we’re here to make that process easier,” says Andrew Stevens, head of small business at Vodafone UK. “Whether it’s understanding how technology can help them or what they should use, we have the options and support to guide them.”
To find out more about Vodafone Business’ support and tools for SMEs, visit vodafone.uk/TogetherWeCan-SME
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
