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New Headset Solution for City Council? No Problem!

When a large, multi-faceted Local Government Agency needed to roll out a headset solution for their new communication system, OfficeMax stepped up with solutions and services.

Christchurch City Council is the largest governing body in the South Island, New Zealand. Their employees range from office workers to librarians, sport centre managers and mobile "on-the-go" staff. When the time came to replace their legacy (outdated) phone system, there were many challenges for Penny Trousselot, Team Leader of COIT Project Management & Training at Christchurch City Council, to consider. Deciding to switch to Skype to Business was the first step. The second was to replace their desk phones with compatible headsets.


The Challenge

Removing desk phones meant Christchurch City Council had to purchase approximately 2,800 headsets. These headsets had to:

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1. Be cost effective

As with all New Zealand Government agencies, Christchurch City Council must ensure their budgets are well-managed. The headsets had to fir this budget – while remaining functional.


3. Cater to all their employees' needs

While a majority of Christchurch City Council staff could use almost any type of headset, there were some who required more specialised equipment. The Christchurch City Council needed to supply everyone with a useable headset. (For example, headsets which accommodate hearing aids.)
2. Be useable across their different work environments

Christchurch City Council employees work across many different environments: staff could be at a desk, in a communal space or on-the-go. Each of these environments come with a different headset requirement (wireless vs connected for example).


4. Allay the concerns of people who were reluctant to leave their desk phones behind

Not everyone initially enjoyed the idea of replacing their desk phone with a headset. The Skype for Business project team needed to help ease these worries.



The Solution


OfficeMax provided Christchurch City Council with several headsets to trial – within the required price-range. After some tests, Penny and her team were able to narrow it down to these three Sennheiser headsets:
  • Single headphone Sennheiser SC 30
  • Double headphone Sennheiser SC 60
  • Wireless headphone Sennheiser D10
These three suited the majority of Christchurch City Council's varied workforce. Teams could choose which type suited their work-style, while also enjoying the sound quality and comfort of these Sennheiser headphones.

For those who needed a more custom fit, OfficeMax was again able to provide a range of headphones for people to trial before Christchurch City Council committed to the purchase.

Penny and her team rolled out this project in stages. Teams received training for Skype for Business to ensure everyone knew how to work the new system.

To assist with this, OfficeMax stored all the headphones in their Christchurch Warehouse. Penny was able to jump online, order (and pay for) a batch of headphones when she needed them. They'd be promptly delivered, often before the promised date.





"Christchurch City Council is not only an office environment, we have people doing civic duties across the board.

We have libraries, sport centres and service centres around the city. So these aren't just in a corporate environment, they're people who are out and about, with different types of communications needs."
— Penny Trousselot



The Result


Christchurch City Council has now been fully equipped to use their new communication system. Everyone is set up with a headset that suits their work style and personal needs.

While it was a big project, with many moving parts, Penny and her team breezed through it with the help of their OfficeMax Technology Specialist, Andrew Hipkiss.




"The Technology Specialist partnering through the project with us was very helpful. I think the whole thing, end-to-end, was just a nice, seamless workflow."
— Penny Trousselot


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