In most Canadian municipalities, the number one challenge is how to do more with less. Departments and agencies must contend with increasingly tight budgets, yet still face the daily pressure of delivering frontline programs and services to diverse, highly concentrated populations. Often dealing with aging infrastructure – including legacy IT systems with limited flexibility – municipal administrators must nevertheless address the evolving needs of residents who depend on public services and expect maximum value for their tax dollars.

Allstream’s IP connectivity solutions can help you achieve new levels of efficiency and streamlined program delivery while enabling your people to communicate easily wherever they’re working – in the office, on the road or from home. By converging your disparate voice, data and multimedia applications onto a single secure network, you can save money on your IT budget while maximizing the value of your existing technology investment. By taking advantage of the latest mobility and collaboration tools, you can adopt innovative work practices that boost productivity and get everyone working together more effectively. And when your offices and people are better connected – by a network that keeps private information secure, with easily scalable bandwidth to handle fluctuations in seasonal services or program enrollments – you can be confident that you have the advanced communications platform you need to fulfill your mandate.

Whatever goals your organization has set – making information more accessible to the public from multiple access points; equipping your people in the field with mobility applications; improving services to special-needs clients; improving emergency response times – you can count on Allstream for fast, reliable, cost-efficient solutions designed for the most demanding business environments.

Work more efficiently:
Network downtime, poor communications between staff members and offices, slow connections, disparate technology platforms – all of these challenges cost your people valuable work time and distract them from core tasks. Supported by Allstream’s industry-leading connectivity solutions and national fibre-optic network, your organization can improve work efficiency across the board.

• Ensure better information flow and optimum client support, with reduced risk of downtime.
• Streamline and extend service delivery through multiple-channel access points and online information gathering.
• Boost productivity with instant virtual meetings enabling geographically dispersed staff to share files and collaborate on applications in real time.
• Get team members better connected by enabling them to instantly locate and check the current status of colleagues across the network.
• Equip people in the field with mobile applications that enhance service delivery and keep them connected to the central workplace.
• Use digital technologies and audio, web and video conferencing to expand professional development and training opportunities, as well as foster improved regional, agency and departmental relationships.
• Ensure regulatory compliance by updating online forms and applications at the point of data delivery.
• Promote improved work-life balance – increasingly important for both attracting and retaining talent – with teleworking and mobility applications that let people work from home and on the move.
• Stay up to date with the latest business applications and service-delivery technologies, ensuring your network is ready for seamless upgrades.

Save money:
By converging your networks, applications and multiple worksites onto a scalable, end-to-end network infrastructure, you can generate greater efficiencies with existing resources.

• Save money and IT resources by eliminating the hardware and software required to maintain multiple technology interfaces.
• Cut travel expenses with real-time audio, web and videoconferencing.
• Reduce real estate costs by minimizing the size and number of dedicated meeting areas across your organization.
• Cut down on office space and equipment by enabling remote staff to share desks and computers.

Reduce your footprint:
Allstream helps your organization meet the growing demand for greener delivery of public services. With our suite of collaboration, mobility and teleworking tools, you can reduce your organizational carbon footprint by:

• replacing work-related travel with videoconferencing
• cutting down on commute times and reducing office space by taking advantage of teleworking capabilities
• realizing enhanced energy efficiencies with superior technologies
• reducing office space and saving energy by relocating servers to an Allstream data centre.

Stay secure:
We help protect your confidential data with the innovative security solutions built into every connection point of our national network. With Allstream’s experts working alongside your own IT people, you can transfer and store data efficiently, knowing that your organization is well protected against cyber threats, spam and malware.

You can also transfer your server and data storage needs to one of Allstream’s comprehensive data centres, which provide round-the-clock security and monitoring, climate controls and alternative power sources for immediate, guaranteed backup in the event of a crisis. (Please note that all Managed Hosting services provided by Allstream ensure that data remains in Canada, protected by PIPEDA – Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.)

We understand your goals:
Resident-centred service delivery is the key operational focus for municipal departments and agencies. Allstream helps you keep that goal top of mind in all of your IT planning and implementation ­– as you deliver optimum value to taxpayers.