Situation.
Hall & Prior know their care recipients need to be connected to the outside world. Over time, the legacy networks connecting their growing number of aged care facilities had made it harder for care recipients to communicate with their families, instead of easier. It was clear they needed a new approach that would make slow speeds, inconsistent connections and frequent outages a thing of the past.
Safety and comfort. A promise to every resident.
For over 20 years, the Hall & Prior Health and Aged Care Group has been committed to quality and accessible aged care. In 1992, Graeme Prior and Michael Hall started with three nursing homes. Today, they operate 25 nursing homes and two home care services across Western Australia and New South Wales.
Hall & Prior believe that there’s nothing more important than the safety, care and happiness of our care recipients. They offer accommodation and health services that make a real difference to the quality of life of their residents. Empathy, respect, dignity and dedication to privacy are core values of their business.
To translate these values into a measurably better environment for residents, Hall & Prior knew they’d need a telecommunications specialist who could provide agility, security, performance and great service.
Growing pains.
In the past, Hall & Prior managed their services through multiple providers. This meant instability, communication problems, higher security risks and chaotic complexity. They needed a trustworthy backup and failover strategy that wouldn’t let them down.
On top of this, they needed greater bandwidth and fewer dropouts so their care recipients could benefit from reliable Wi-Fi, for easy access to social media and teleconferencing to stave off social isolation. Running multiple remote connections across two states using traditional networking meant downtime was out of control.
The use of numerous independent service providers also meant that rolling out a new site or service was complex and time-consuming. Each site required the deployment of a technician who would install individual hardware pieces from a number of vendors, and then manually configure each device using programming code. When it came time to update the settings at a site, it was the same slow, expensive process.
Solution.
Macquarie Telecom SD-WAN was rolled out over 22 of Hall & Prior’s sites across Western Australia and New South Wales. The new network took advantage of existing links into the premises, which were previously served by traditional MPLS network technology.
Multi-Path. Fast and consistent.
To provide the speed and redundancy benefits of SD-WAN’s Multi-Path architecture, every site used two independent data links, delivered either as dual NBN, EFM and NBN, or existing ethernet paired with NBN. Multi-Path sends data across the fastest link at any given moment, and directly combats the limitations of single-link traditional networks.
Results.
Care recipients at Hall & Prior’s care facilities now benefit from a fast, consistent connection that keeps them in touch with their families. They will soon be able to use video calling, social media apps, and streaming services without worrying about the next dropout or delay. Macquarie Telecom SD-WAN allows Hall & Prior to provide a safe, supported environment for every one of its care providers and care recipients.
Customer satisfaction up.
Dan Beeston, Hall & Prior ICT Manager (Infrastructure), believes customer satisfaction has improved immeasurably since the switch to SD-WAN. Care recipients no longer fight against unreliable technology to keep connected and stay in touch.
“We’ve seen increased availability at our sites because unlike traditional networks which require manual intervention, everything’s now automated through Macquarie Telecom’s SD-WAN technology.” Mr Beeston said the overall experience of switching to Macquarie Telecom was very positive, and had even accommodated a 21 percent increase in their number of sites and
services. Since the switch, Multi-Path link merging technology has made slow and unreliable network access a thing of the past, leaving more room to focus on client care.
A faster future.
Now they’ve experienced the faster speeds and increased uptime that come with SD-WAN, Hall & Prior is looking to standardise every site.
Increasing Wi-Fi coverage to support a truly converged network, they’re adopting digital voice services which they’ve trialed across five sites, with fantastic results. With exciting new builds and fresh ideas on the horizon, the team is prepared and supported for growth.
The strategic partnership with Macquarie Telecom means Hall & Prior is ready for any future challenge. It was crucial that their new telecommunications provider would maintain a high level of service by understanding their needs and delivering to strict SLA and SLG requirements. And that’s exactly what Macquarie Telecom has done.
Here's how Macquarie Telecom SD-WAN makes things better for Hall & Prior:
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Huge increase in uptime: with downtime that’s close to zero, Hall & Prior can provide their business with consistent access.
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Instant troubleshooting: fast diagnosis through the Orchestrator, backed up with local customer support.
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Flexibility to grow: simple site rollouts, single point of control for network updates.
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Fast network access: a high performance data network for desktop virtualisation, voice calls, and video conferencing.
How Macquarie Telecom SD-WAN improved the lives of Hall & Prior care recipients.
Hall & Prior knew their care recipients needed to be connected to the outside world. Over time, the legacy networks connecting their growing number of aged care facilities had made it harder for care recipients to communicate with their families, instead of easier. It was clear they needed a new approach that would make slow speeds, inconsistent connections and frequent outages a thing of the past.
"It’s the people and the team that set Macquarie Telecom apart. When we’ve requested modifications, they listened, adapted and took the feedback onboard."
