Aster Group | Case Study

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Introduction

Careline365, a leading provider of personal alarm services, is dedicated to empowering individuals to live independently and safely at home. As part of the Appello Group, we utilise digital home and on-the-go alarms with compassionate support to deliver tailored personal care solutions.

Aster Group is a housing association established in 1990, providing quality, affordable homes to thousands across the south of England and London. With a vision that everyone should have a home, Aster owns and maintains over 36,000 properties across the region.

The Challenge

Aster, through its Connected Living brand, provided a telecare service to 3,000 individuals in the south-west of England via a third-party alarm receiving centre. Their telecare service supported approximately 6,200 connections, between:

  • 2,800 connections across 89 of Aster’s sheltered accommodation sites.
  • 3,400 private paying customers.

With the upcoming digital switchover coming into effect across the UK, running these services is becoming increasingly challenging and costly. Aster made the strategic decision to close its service and sought a suitable provider to take on its customer base. To ensure the best outcome, Aster initiated a competitive bidding process, inviting multiple telecare operators to participate.

Solution

Careline365 took the time to understand Aster’s business and client needs thoroughly. This allowed us to create a compelling offer that not only ensured continuity of service for customers but also demonstrated our expertise in managing large-scale customer transfer projects.

After a comprehensive review, Aster selected Careline365 as its preferred telecare provider based on our proven experience in safely migrating services without disrupting customers, our strong focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences, and our capability to support customers through the transition to digital telecare.

Implementation & Results

Following the decision, Careline365’s project team worked closely with Aster’s housing team to facilitate a seamless migration process. The transition was completed in just over two months from the signing of the contract.

A critical part of the migration was the transfer of life-critical phone lines from Aster’s previous alarm receiving centre to Appello’s, as well as digital alarm units being reprogrammed to ensure their continued functionality. To maintain uninterrupted service for all 3,000 customers, we also facilitated the seamless transfer of customer payments.

Given our previous experience from past asset purchase deals, we were prepared when transferring phone lines and streamlining this process to make it as smooth as possible, additionally, there were relatively few staff to TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) over, therefore making this a seamless process. We also leveraged the Appello Digital Bridge to resolve an industry-wide issue with Tyntec analogue alarms. The Appello Digital Bridge provided a temporary solution for analogue alarms, converting analogue signals to match digital ones until a full digital switchover of equipment was able to go ahead.

Long-Term Partnership

Post-migration, Careline365 and Aster established a long-term partnership through a referral service. Under this agreement, Aster refers clients who may benefit from an alarm system to Careline365, where they receive a generous discount on their alarm package

Carleine365 committed to Aster’s clients by not only transferring them to our service but upgrading their analogue alarm systems to digital in preparation for the upcoming digital switchover. We created a dedicated team under the name of Swift to contact every client who had transferred across from Aster to explain the upcoming digital switchover and the effects it will directly have on them and their current alarm systems. Additionally, in these conversations, we offer an upgrade to our digital Smart life system.

 Conclusion

Through our expertise and customer-focused approach, Careline365 successfully supported Aster in transitioning its telecare service for thousands of customers. By facilitating a smooth migration process, resolving technical challenges, and proactively assisting clients with the digital switchover, we delivered a seamless experience with minimal disruption. Our long-term partnership with Aster highlights our commitment to helping more individuals live safely and independently at home.