Belfast’s Barclay Communications secures £750k of UK Government contracts

Barclay Communications, the largest indigenous and locally owned Northern Ireland telecoms firm, has won two major Government contracts in Great Britain.

The deals, which were won through highly scrutinised and competitive tender processes, will see the business process more than 1,000 communication connections collectively at a joint value of over £750,000.

One tender, which will see the supply and management of hundreds of connections, was awarded to Barclay Communications by the Welsh Parliament and will cover three top tier networks: O2, Vodafone and EE.

The £250,000, two-year deal with the Welsh Parliament saw Barclay Communications turn around several hundred connections and deliver new handsets to the client within three working days to coincide with the elected body’s recent election event.

Meanwhile, the New Forest District Council contract in Hampshire, England, covers over 750 connections with plans for additional growth in the pipeline. This contract is set to span over a three-year period with the view to continue the partnership into the future with an additional two-year agreement.

With a value of £521,000, Barclay Communications’ work with New Forest District Council will see it refresh the organisation’s entire communications hardware, while creating a bespoke package that ensures the Council’s sensitive data is secured to the highest level. This includes a customised Virtual Private Network (VPN), along with additional security around all mobile users within the account.

Britt Megahey, managing director at Barclay Communications said: “We are delighted to add two more high-profile Government contracts to our client portfolio. We have consistently invested in our business to ensure our customers are provided with bespoke and innovative communication solutions and as a result it has allowed us to secure many tender wins for high profile clients. I am proud to say that over 93% of clients continue to stay with us long after their initial contract term.

“Working with the Welsh Parliament has been a challenge that the Barclay Communications team relished. To fulfil the comms requirement for existing and new MPs the solution had to be delivered within an exceptionally short time frame. We ensured handsets and connectivity was provisioned and onsite, ready for the required completion date.”

Mr Megahey, continued: “Our contract with New Forest District Council has a lot of potential to grow from the initial 750 connections we have supplied. The main challenge with this account was maintaining the privacy and security that is required in a communication package when dealing with sensitive data. We engaged with our partner Wandera who were able to build a bespoke solution that tailored around a private VPN along with additional security around all mobile users within the account.

“Our solution has also enabled users to benefit from 4G and 5G speeds, opening the viability of other projects that had been curtailed previously.”

Mr Megahey added: “These significant new contracts speak volumes about the investment we have made in the business over recent months and the dedication our staff have to both our customers and our company. I’ve really enjoyed watching the changes take shape. The initiatives include in-house training programmes, new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, investing in expanding our engineering, service and delivery teams along with a full company rebrand.

“We are continually seeking ways to grow and improve the business and are now planning a full office refurbishment in line with the new branding and the introduction of CCaaS (Contact Centre as a Solution) that will sit on top of our CRM and telephone infrastructure. This is really exciting as it will allow us to add layers to our customer experience, integrating a multi-channel approach such as WhatsApp, text or webchat, allowing all customers to choose how they want to interact with us.

“We are driven by our customers, therefore it is important we continue to scale in order to meet new demands, so adding AI (Artificial Intelligence) and many other exciting features will help to keep customers connected, serviced and engaged at all times whilst allowing our teams to continue the work with each customer personally and efficiently.”

The contract wins come just two months after the Barclay Group invested £2m into its landline division, creating 35 new roles.

In recent months the Barclay Group has also undergone a full rebrand of all of its companies including a new website and logos to reflect its growth over the past 25 years.

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