Although we provide a full turnkey solution, we can provide any of the elements of our capability in isolation.
Some of these are as follows:

  • Business Process Analysis
    and Re-engineering
  • Pre-built software applications
  • Software Customisation
  • Bespoke Development
  • Integration services
  • Software Support
  • Training

Products

We commonly provide a complete solution, this solution is often comprised of several of our existing products.
Some of the products in our portfolio are:

  • Soft telephone switchboard
  • Softphone
  • CRM system
  • Appointments Management System
  • BT EISEC Gateway
  • Forms designer and scripted automation
  • Systems Integration toolset
  • Message Broker subsystem
  • Data Mining Tools
  • Internal Directory system
  • Gazetteer search tools
  • Low cost caller locator system

Services

Police Forces

With the ever increasing pressure on the public purse, UK Forces are expected to do more with less resources. In addition the rising complexity of modern policing is adding to challenges faced. The obvious answer to these factors is to carry out business in a smarter and more efficient manner. One of the ways this can be done is through the use of effective IT solutions.

Cavendish has focused on the needs of IT within the police for many years, especially around the areas of incident reporting and response. Our systems are in use by several major Forces within the UK. They are modular in nature to enable them to be readily slotted in alongside existing IT infrastructure. Facilities include:-

Telephony Integration

  • Easy to use on-screen softphone
  • Captures inbound call queue
  • Records caller's number
  • Provides data for EISEC service (see below)
  • Call transfers and conferencing (together with all recorded data)
  • Colour-coded indicator to signify inbound 999 calls
  • Call and on-hold timers
  • Display of wallboard data
  • Multiple internal and external directories

Soft Switchboard

  • Comprehensive switchboard customised for police use
  • Flexible interface driven by mouse, keyboard or touch-screen
  • Multiple line handling
  • Calls can be placed on hold with visual reminder of caller details and time on hold
  • Colour-coded on-hold flags to alert operator when calls have been held longer than target times
  • Call transfers and conferencing
  • Multiple internal and external directories

EISEC Service Integration

  • Mobile calls return cell location and direction of travel (not implemented in the UK at present)
  • Automatic interrogation of EISEC system for all new 999 calls
  • Landline calls return subscriber address
  • Enhanced location details for mobile phone calls
  • Caller location automatically displayed on map
  • Telematics information supported

GeoLocation

  • Utilises various commercial dedicated GIS systems, as well as Google Maps
  • Locate an address down to an individual building
  • Display the location of a mobile phone caller within an elliptical shape
  • Display other incidents within an area of interest
  • Uses data derived from the EISEC service or manually entered

Gazetteer Integration

  • Search for UK addresses using partial data
  • Essential for validation of addresses prior to creating records in connected systems
  • Can use one or more commercially available gazetteer systems

Scripting and Automation

  • Scripts and automation rules are customer-defined and created
  • Analyses recorded text and guides the operator through the preferred procedure
  • Scripts can be triggered by certain words, incident types, time of day etc.
  • Scripts can be triggered by caller or incident location enabling localised scripts in a Force wide control room
  • Scripts can be information only or data capture forms
  • Assists with ensuring standards of response

Attached System Integration

  • Common systems integrated are Command & Control and Crime
  • Records created automatically in connected systems using data already entered
  • Connected systems can be completely 'skinned' (i.e. the native interface is invisible to the user) or 'front-ended' (record is handed off to connected system after initial creation)
  • Supports record creation, record update and data searching

Appointments Management

  • Used for tasking slow-time or non-urgent activities independently of the Command & Control system
  • Integrated with and utilises Microsoft exchange
  • Automatic email notification of new, amended or deleted appointments
  • Attendee can receive briefing pack to ensure professional preparation
  • Flexibly supports differing divisional/regional organisation of resource responsibilities

Reports and Enquiries

  • Flexible system for searching past incident and call records
  • Exports to Excel
  • Available as a standalone tool for ad-hoc enquiries

Local Authorities

Centralised call centres within Local Authorities are only a decade old. Historically, a citizen wishing to request a service, pay a bill or report an issue would have to call the individual departments. This made navigating the phone system a lengthy process for the caller and also meant that each department had to dedicate personnel to answering the phones. Increasingly, Authorities are implementing a Call Centre where all such calls can be handled and then the resulting process can be routed through to the appropriate department.

This is achieved by an effective Call Handling system linked to the Authority's telephone system, a regional gazetteer and GIS system. At its most basic level, calls arriving can be recorded and then transferred to the individual departments. However, the benefits really start to accrue as the various systems used by each of the service departments are integrated with the Call Handling system. Such integration allows the call handler to deal with most of the citizen interactions without involving departmental staff. Examples of the types of interactions that can be handled are:-

  • Booking of a squash court
  • Ordering a new wheelie bin
  • Reporting a broken street light
  • Requesting a Building Inspector visit
  • Enquiring of the status of a Planning Application

Call Handling

Call Handling has been one of the core business areas for Cavendish since the Company was formed. It grew out of our inherent expertise in Systems Integration where it was quickly realised that any organisation having a need to provide a facility for Call Handlers to record contacts with customers, suppliers or members of the public would also have a need to transfer the data gathered into an operational system for processing and initiating some form of action. Cavendish's System Integration capability proved to be ideal for managing this type of interaction.

Today, Cavendish's Call Handling systems bring together many other elements of our portfolio to provide an extremely flexible, yet powerful solution. Some of these elements are:-

  • Telephony Integration
  • Gazetteer Integration
  • GeoLocation
  • Scripting and Automation
  • Reports and Enquiries
  • Appointments Management
  • Connected Systems Integration

Telephony Integration

Cavendish have been providing telephony integration services for many years, commencing with the early TAPI-based systems and now exploiting the advanced CTI interfaces available on modern telephony switches. This integration expertise is built into many of our off-the-shelf software applications, but it is also available as a custom service for customers wishing to connect an existing system to their telephony infrastructure.

Integration can be visible, in the form of soft phones (on-screen) or 'headless' as a service, efficiently collecting and delivering data to/from the telephony system in the background.

Given Cavendish's credentials delivering systems to Police Forces, all of these types of solutions are designed for high-availability with redundancy and failover built in.

Reliability and High Availability

Cavendish's customers demand systems that provide fast response and are always available. This is especially so in the mission critical markets that we serve. From the ground up, systems are designed to be scalable by adding additional servers. These additional servers not only share the processing load, thereby reducing the impact of larger numbers of users, but also can be configured to be resilient in case of failure of any one of them or their interconnecting networks. In addition, if connected 3rd party systems are capable of being operated in a load-sharing, resilient way, then Cavendish will make use of this to ensure that the entire system benefits.

Focus on improved service to the public

When a member of the public contacts an organisation, they benefit from that organisation already knowing something about them and/or the issue they are calling about. This is especially true if this is a repeat call, or they have been transferred from one department to another.

Cavendish systems assist with this by requiring the bare minimum of information from the caller (sometimes the automatically gathered CLI will be sufficient) in order to identify the caller and the issue that they are calling about. In addition, through the use of Automation and Scripting, the Call Handler can be guided to interact with the caller in the most efficient way possible - not just efficient for the Call handler, but for the caller as well.

Through the mechanism of an efficient call and an outcome that derives from accurate recording of information, the caller's experience is significantly improved.

Improving utilisation of existing staff resources

When a business process results from an interaction with a customer or supplier, it is vitally important that the data gathered from that 3rd party is correct and is recorded accurately. Furthermore, if that data is then to be passed to an operational system, any rekeying must be avoided.

By providing Call Handlers with an effective toolset, supported by Automation and Scripting, the task of data gathering is streamlined and operational standards are enforced. This, not only makes the job of the Call Handler more efficient, it also improves the efficiency of the back-end office functions by providing the accurate information that they need to ensure an excellent service to the customer or supplier.

GeoLocation

GeoLocation makes use of the power of modern GIS systems to improve efficiency. The value of these systems really comes to the fore when integrated with other applications that drive or utilise them. Some of the capabilities that can be exploited are:-

  • Plot or mark a location for immediate viewing or later searching
  • Marked locations can be a building, landmark, street, grid reference or a bounded shape
  • Marked locations can have virtually unlimited amounts of 'metadata' associated with them acting as searchable tags
  • Searching can be by partial address, grid reference/search radius and can include search tags (e.g. date/time, operator, priority etc.)

Questions?

Call tracking, handling for emergency services and the corporate sector