Case Study : British Wireless For The Blind

Case Study : British Wireless For The Blind

by Tinder Corporation, 4th April 2018

The Scoop

The British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF) is an amazing charity that provides specially modified radios and tablets to give visually impaired people access to a huge portfolio of audio content including books, magazines, newspapers and more.  They also aggregate the audio content and provide it in a very simple interface via, amongst other things, their revolutionary Bumblebee app.

When we first spoke to BWBF four years ago it was about procurements…

The Approach

You see the charity had dealt with IT companies before but tended to find (as charities sadly often do) that many IT services were outside their budget. Luckily at Tinder Corp we get a real buzz (yes that’s a pun on the Bumblebee app, thank me later) out of helping charities, so the first thing we did was make sure our price points on hardware were as low as possible.

We then approached the charity with a proposal to take over all their IT needs, meaning that they would have everything in one place and wouldn’t be wasting valuable time trying to find a variety of sympathetic suppliers.

We eventually became a full managed IT partner for the BWBF, providing day to day support, and placing them on our partnered charities program to significantly reduce their software costs.

 

Over the past 4 years we’ve been able to implement a new, more cost effective phone system; replace their aging server fleet with a new ‘virtual infrastructure’; consult with them on a new CRM solution as well as GDPR compliance; and work with them to custom brand 1000 Samsung Tablet devices to help the Bumblebee app take flight (yup, that’s another pun, you’re welcome).

 

The Happily Ever After

The bottom line is that the BWBF have drastically reduced their procurement costs and overheads, meaning that more of their money can go into helping visually impaired people have a more rounded and enjoyable life experience. We’ve loved working with the BWBF and hope that we can continue to support their remarkable work. Luckily for us the feeling is mutual, as David Beard, the charity’s Service Delivery Manager puts it:

“We’ve had IT providers before, but with Tinder we have a full managed service plus, and more importantly, consultancy as and when we need it. They’ve helped us take the charity to more and more people and I’m confident that they are 100% on our side. When I first spoke to Tinder four years ago they said they could ‘provide it all’ and that’s exactly what they’ve done”

Sadly David didn’t provide us with a Bumblebee related pun but you can’t have everything.

 

To find out more about the amazing work being done by The British Wireless for the Blind Fund, go to http://www.blind.org.uk

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