YMCA Victoria Increases Access to Community Services with Move to Avaya Cloud Office

YMCA Victoria CS
YMCA Victoria logo

YMCA Victoria (‘The Y’) is a not-for-profit (NFP) organisation that has long brought essential services and support to communities in Victoria. As part of its continued growth, the organisation expanded its venues and services around Australia, which saw it inherit multiple disparate administration, collaboration and contact centre technology systems from previous operators.

To mitigate operational siloes for its 5,000 staff and volunteers, The Y introduced the all-in-one communication solution Avaya Cloud Office® by RingCentral, with assistance from an Avaya partner. This enabled the organisation to centralise its teams and processes, which has boosted productivity and increased access to its services for the community, despite external disruptions such as lockdowns.

5000

Staff and Volunteers

81

Locations Implemented

 

Challenge

  • To navigate an expansion while preventing operational siloes for its 5,000 staff and volunteers, resulting from the multiple disparate administration, collaboration and contact centre technology systems inherited from previous venue operators.
  • To lessen the administrative load for The Y’s employees, freeing up time for them to engage with community members face-to-face and offer personalised access to youth, fitness, recreation and health programs and activities.
  • To enable staff to work from anywhere and across different devices so services can continue during external disruptions such as lockdowns.

Value Created

  • Centralisation of its teams and processes, which has boosted productivity, lessened the administrative load and increased personalised access to its services for the community, for instance with single sign on (SSO) capabilities which have improved staff responsiveness.
  • Reprieve for managing both internal and external disruptions, with staff able to work from anywhere across devices, including iPads, iPhones and iOS, ensuring uninterrupted productivity and connectivity.
  • A reduction in operational costs.

SOLUTION USED

Avaya UCaaS

Avaya Cloud Office® by RingCentral

The Y is an NFP organisation that has brought essential services and support to communities in Victoria since 1853. As part of its continued growth, the organisation has recently expanded to more than 150 sites in Victoria, South Australia, the ACT and Queensland, including youth services, swim schools, early learning centres and recreational facilities, connecting with more Australians than ever before.

The addition of the new venues, some of which have allowed it to launch new services, saw the Y inherit multiple disparate administration, collaboration and contact centre technology systems from previous venue operators which risked operational silos across the facilities impacting around 5,000 staff and volunteers.

Centralised Collaboration Improves Staff and Community Experiences

The Y recognised the need to create a consolidated communications environment to enable collaboration for its workforce, whether in offices, community facilities and increasingly from home. Further, the organisation decided to consolidate its communication and collaboration workflows to improve operations and reduce costs.

The cloud-based Avaya Cloud Office platform has proven the ideal way for the Y to meet these requirements. The introduction of the all-in-one communication solution has enabled the Y to centralise its teams and processes, which has boosted productivity and subsequently increased access to its services for the community.

The introduction of the all-in-one communication solution has enabled the Y to centralise its teams and processes, which has boosted productivity and subsequently increased access to its services for the community.

Avaya Cloud Office was implemented for the Y by an Avaya Partner and Australian managed services provider (MSP) and long-term Avaya partner, which delivered system integration and staff training across more than 81 sites.

“The Y plays a foundational role in the lives of Australia’s young people and their families, and with Avaya Cloud Office, it’s easier than ever to get in touch with teams across the Y through a range of different channels. That means those seeking youth services and programs to keep healthy and connect with others will find it easier. This is helped by equipping the Y with call routing and SSO capabilities, which make its employees even more responsive.” – Director, Avaya Partner

Avaya was a natural fit for us as the outcomes offered by its systems align with our mission. Through better connected teams, we can increase our visibility within local communities and provide more ways for people to connect with the Y at their convenience, bringing us together even when external challenges force us apart.”

— Shane Riddle, General Manager, Technology and Strategy, YMCA Victoria

Services Continue During Lockdowns

Avaya Cloud Office has already provided the Y with reprieve for managing both internal and external disruptions, including lockdowns, by streamlining communication and collaboration capabilities.

Staff are now able to work from anywhere across devices, including iPads, iPhones and iOS, ensuring uninterrupted productivity and connectivity. They can also leverage the all-in-one ‘office in a pocket’ capabilities of Avaya Cloud Office, which allows them to collaborate across multiple channels and call, message, meet, video conference, file-share and more within one environment

The Y’s General Manager, Technology and Strategy, Shane Riddle, commented: “Our mission is to provide the opportunity for each person to be healthy, happy and connected. A collaborative workforce is essential in achieving this goal and ensuring communities have easy access to our youth, fitness and support services particularly during challenging times such as lockdowns.”

“Avaya was a natural fit for us as the outcomes offered by its systems align with our mission. Through better connected teams, we can increase our visibility within local communities and provide more ways for people to connect with the Y at their convenience, bringing us together even when external challenges force us apart.”

Our teams will experience less of what we don’t want, which is time spent completing excessive administration, and more of what we do best – efficient and personalised access to youth, fitness, recreation and health programs and activities."

— Shane Riddle, General Manager, Technology and Strategy, YMCA Victoria

In The End

Looking ahead, Riddle said streamlined communication will bring various day-to-day advantages to the Y and local communities, with less administrative work meaning that staff will have more time to engage with community members face-to-face.

“The delivery of our services will improve significantly this year, which, due to heightened demand on the back of the pandemic, has never been more important. Our teams will experience less of what we don’t want, which is time spent completing excessive administration, and more of what we do best – efficient and personalised access to youth, fitness, recreation and health programs and activities,” he said.

“For example, getting kids into the pool and teaching them to swim will become a much smoother process with all bookings, cancellations and payments being consolidated.”

Our mission is to provide the opportunity for each person to be healthy, happy and connected. A collaborative workforce is essential in achieving this goal."

— Shane Riddle, General Manager, Technology and Strategy, YMCA Victoria

About YMCA Victoria

YMCA Victoria is an NFP organisation that delivers programs and services at more than 150 locations across Victoria, including skate parks through action sports, camps, children's programs (including early learning centres, before and after school programs and school holiday programs), recreation (including fitness and aquatic facilities), Virtual Y (fitness videos, nutritious recipes) and youth services.

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