Revealed: Presbyterian Support Central partners with Spark

Presbyterian Support Central (PSC) has adopted Spark's Modern Mobility solution in an effort to modernise its technology infrastructure and improve productivity across its workforce.

PSC, a not-for-profit organisation based in New Zealand, focuses on providing support to elderly and vulnerable communities. The organisation's operational regions span the central and lower North Island.

PSC employs over 1,000 staff members, including nurses, healthcare assistants, cleaners, counsellors, and social workers. These frontline teams faced significant technological challenges owing to outdated devices and persistent equipment issues. This hindered productivity and required staff to spend considerable time on troubleshooting rather than delivering essential services to their clients.

Jonathan Gan, General Manager of Business Services and Sustainability at PSC, stressed the importance of having reliable technology.

"It's important our people have the right technology and tools to enable them to do their job and continue to focus on the best outcomes possible for our residents and clients, rather than troubleshooting technology problems, which can also detract from more impactful IT support and services," Gan said.

Gan highlighted the financial constraints faced by the organisation in continually updating technology. "As a charity, we don't have big budgets to continually invest in new technology, especially when it comes to purchasing hardware outright and in large volumes. Consequently, we were faced with an aging fleet of devices that were not only prone to frequent malfunction but also required an inordinate amount of our frontline workers' time to troubleshoot, time that could be better spent serving our residents and clients," he added.

To address these issues, PSC collaborated with Spark to implement a comprehensive mobile management solution. This solution not only enhances the user experience for employees dealing with outdated technology but also alleviates the burden on PSC's IT team. The deployment enables frontline employees to connect seamlessly without typical issues from slow devices, allowing PSC's digital and ICT team to focus on more critical tasks, supported by Spark.

Gan expressed appreciation for Spark's commitment to understanding and supporting PSC's mission. "What Spark have really partnered with us on is understanding who we are as a business and in supporting our mission. They know us. They know who we are, and how we're trying to deliver for needy and vulnerable New Zealanders," he said.

Liz Urquhart, General Manager for Managed Services at Spark, commented on the project's significance. "This project with Presbyterian Support Central demonstrates Spark's commitment to supporting customers through innovative mobile management solutions to help unlock productivity and improve business outcomes. We're proud to work with Presbyterian Support Central and to have played a role in their connectivity transformation," Urquhart stated.

The Modern Mobility solution distinguishes itself with its comprehensive service management. Urquhart elaborated: "What sets Modern Mobility apart is our end-to-end service management where we onboard, stage, refresh, repair or replace devices as well as offer end-user support and device lifecycle management. We collaborate with our customers as we work with them to improve overall customer experience and evolve our services together according to their business needs."

PSC has been a longstanding support pillar for communities in the Taranaki, Whanganui, Horowhenua, Manawatu, Wairarapa, and greater Wellington regions for over 110 years.

Through its Enliven programme, PSC manages rest homes and retirement villages, offering various services promoting positive ageing. In parallel, its Family Works initiative provides crucial social services tailored to families and youth.