THE CUSTOMER
Money Advice Scotland (MAS) is a charitable membership organisation that provides training, events, resources and support to the Scottish money advice sector. As a result of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns and subsequent ‘work from home’ guidance, they recognised the need for their members to have a video conferencing platform to conduct face to face interviews with service users in need of money advice and support.
Many of their membership organisations have limited resources, so MAS set out to procure a platform on their behalf. Leah Cameron, Quality Assurance Consultant for MAS, speaks of their journey to find a platform: “We knew our members needed a safe, secure, reliable and easy to use video conferencing platform to conduct face-to-face interviews, however for them to individually research, procure and deploy a video conferencing platform would be too costly, time-consuming and labour intensive. On behalf of our membership, we researched the availability of suitable platforms and the possibility of negotiating a contract which would enable Money Advice Scotland to procure and distribute video conferencing licences to our members, thereby saving them time and money.”
THE SOLUTION
“MAS became aware of the NHS using the Attend Anywhere platform to hold consultations with patients, and other high-profile organisations with environments that demand security, confidentiality and reliability used the platform. Knowing that these consultations would be highly personal and sensitive, we considered that the platform may be suitable for the types of discussions that money advisers would have with their clients.”
Leah continues, “We needed a platform that would connect advisers with service users as quickly and as easily as possible. We did not want service users having to create an account or download an app to use the platform; ideally, we wanted clients to be able to be able to meet with their adviser in just a few simple steps. After discussions with Involve, including demos to ourselves and our members, we could see that Attend Anywhere met these needs.”
THE RESULT
The MAS membership have now been using Attend Anywhere for just over a year, and in that time have used the platform to hold video appointments with a large demographic. When money advice clients were surveyed by MAS, they rated their video calling experience:
4.66 out of 5
85% would definitely use the service again
14% would maybe use the service again
Notably, no client said that they do not want to use Attend Anywhere again as the other 1% answered “don’t know.” When asked for feedback, a service user responded “having my appointment by Attend Anywhere is much better than phone call. Almost as good as face to face without the hassle and stress of travelling.”
“Most of our member organisations had strategies which forecast the gradual uptake of more digital communication channels over the next 5-to-10-year period. By using Attend Anywhere, our members have been able to realise their strategies years ahead of their original plans,” continues Leah. “During times when work-from-home guidance has been in place across Scotland, the platform has enabled advisers to provide high quality face-to-face advice which has provided a lifeline to those in need. In addition to this, by reducing the need for travel, our members feel that it helps them to work more efficiently, save costs and contribute to a healthier environment.”
BUSINESS INSIGHTS BY INVOLVE
The Attend Anywhere service is beneficial for organisations and service users as it saves the time and expense of having to travel. By using Involve’s Business Insights service, it has been estimated that the consultations by Money Advice Scotland members via Attend Anywhere, totalling 620 hours, have saved:
235 trees by reducing emissions due to less travel
£8100 in petrol costs assuming one guest with a 20-mile round trip at 45p per mile
For more information about Attend Anywhere or Business Insights by Involve, please contact your account manager or use the contact details below.
0330 088 3475
hello@involve.vc
www.involve.vc
