Newcastle Building Society scores with new IP VPN

A building society based in the North East of England has rolled out an IP VPN to improve customer service and security. 

Newcastle Building Society has installed the secure voice and data network from BT across its 50 branches in the UK. In turn the branches are linked to its head office and call centre to create a virtual call centre in which calls and data can be rerouted across the organisation more effectively. 

Colin Greaves, general manager of the building society said it planned to make a 20 per cent return on the £1m invested, but has already surpassed that figure. The society has generated an additional income of £350,000. 

"All the branches are affected by fluctuations in customer demand," said Greaves. "The project has allowed us to channel work around the company, keeping branches cost effective."

He added in the past it would have been difficult to provide home workers and branch staff with fast access to information they needed. "But with the sophisticated software and broadband technology used in the new system, the risk of information bottlenecks has been eliminated." 

The new network is based on IP Clear, BT's 'wires only' multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) -based IP VPN and has allowed the organisation to guarantee high bandwidth to each of its branch offices. This has meant the company could now run new applications, process more calls and share internal information more quickly and efficiently. The service also offers dial-in access for remote users, allowing the society to offer home working to its staff in the future.