An office in your pocket: IN-Z’s unique process

IN-Z’s 1,300 employees and 70 supervisors and coaches provide supported living services to individuals, and care, catering and reception activities for local projects in the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant and Limburg. What makes this social enterprise unique is that it specialises in engaging and employing people who would otherwise find it difficult to access the labour market. This includes single parents with little work experience and new arrivals in the country who are still in the process of learning Dutch. IN-Z helps this heterogeneous group of people to find long-term employment in the right workplace. IN-Z also uses its experience to assist other companies and organisations with HR issues. This means the impact of IN-Z’s vision and expertise goes far beyond its own company.

Phones are key

IN-Z supervisors use their phones to help their customers as well as their own staff. “A few years ago, we launched a tender to find a partner for our mobile phone and data services,” says Stijn De Winter, who oversees Networking and ICT at IN-Z. “Orange Belgium’s bid offered the best value for money, so we accepted it. We were particularly amazed by the network’s excellent coverage. Our staff often work in rural communities, but thanks to Orange’s network, coverage is never a problem. When we launched a second tender for our landlines, Orange Belgium’s bid again offered great quality, service and pricing, so we went for Orange again.’

Office in your pocket

IN-Z staff and customers aren’t always able to go to the IN-Z office. So supervisors simply take the office with them when they go out into the field. “IN-Z has been working at various locations for a very long time,” Stijn De Winter says. “We rely on Orange’s Unified Communications applications to make this go as smoothly as possible for our people. We want them to be able to access all the features we have in the office from wherever they are. For example, our landlines use SIP trunks, but our on-site staff using their mobile data can also easily answer these calls. Because we mix those SIP trunks with dozens of numbers, smartphones with sufficient mobile data and laptops with an IoT SIM card for mobile connectivity, our people can always be reached at any time and any location. That is how we always stay close to our customers and people.”

Prepared for growth

IN-Z has since grown into a social enterprise group with several subsidiaries. “There are a lot of worthwhile projects in our sector that are struggling financially despite all the good work they do. We welcome these companies into the IN-Z group so they can continue their work,” De Winter explains. “Our telecoms services can easily keep up with that growth. We add the existing numbers of those companies to our phone system so they can continue to use them, and we then roll out our Unified Communications applications. This means all areas of IN-Z have the same framework for their telecommunications and everyone can use the same solutions.”

In consultation with Orange

As an ICT partner, Orange Belgium is committed to providing the best possible support to growing organisations. “The Customer Zone is a simple and efficient channel that makes the work of our fleet managers a lot easier,” De Winter adds. “Being able to monitor our usage and intervene quickly where necessary adds a lot of value. Our company also really appreciates that the invoices are always clear and correct. But what really makes a huge difference for us is the help we get from our account manager at Orange Belgium. He is very familiar with how IN-Z operates now, and he helps us with advice and support. He puts us in touch with experts where necessary or points out interesting offers. For instance, a while ago he introduced us to the Orange Cooldeals. This offer gives our staff and their families a discount on their own phone plans. We are happy our organisation can offer that to our staff, and we really appreciate how our account manager actively helps us to realise our vision.”