XLVets hosts visit from Conservative Party Chairman

XLVet UK Ltd today hosted a visit from Conservative Party Chairman, Grant Shapps.  Identified as a business that has made significant advances from the implementation of superfast broadband, XLVets highlighted how the move has benefitted the company, at a regional and national level.
The XLVets hub office is located in Dalston, Cumbria – one of the first rural areas in the county to have access to the new superfast broadband.  For the team, this has allowed a move to cloud-based platforms for almost all of its systems; from file storage and e-mail, to a new internet-based phone system and web-based accounting package.  “With staff based at several UK locations and working remotely it means we can now all use the same phone system and access our files and e-mails from wherever we work,” says Joanne Sharpe, marketing and communications manager for the XLVets group.  “It also means we can now meet as a virtual team on a regular basis, using video conferencing, which has really helped us to be more connected and work more effectively as one team,” she adds.
As well as the benefits the move has brought for the internal team, there are wider implications at a national level.  XLVets is a membership organisation comprising 52 independently-owned veterinary practices located across the length and breadth of the UK.  Effective communication is critical to the group’s success and the move to superfast broadband has improved connectivity within the group. The new technology now enables XLVets to host webinars, video conference calls and deliver on-line training for its members. 
Grant Shapps, along with representatives from Connecting Cumbria and XLVet UK Ltd met today to mark the success of the Connecting Cumbria project and the national announcement that more than 2 million premises now have access to superfast broadband across the UK. 
Roll out of superfast broadband is now in full swing across Cumbria.  The Cumbria County Council led Connecting Cumbria project to build a fibre network around the county is ahead of schedule. Working with delivery partner BT, superfast broadband has now been made available to over 66% of homes and businesses around the county since the first connections were made in October 2013.
The first phase of the multi-million pound project will run until the end of December 2015 by which time 93 per cent of homes and businesses are expected to have access to order superfast broadband. 
Dalston has 4 fibre-enabled cabinets up and running, meaning 973 households and businesses can currently benefit if they make the move onto a fibre-based internet service.  A further 3 fibre cabinets are due to be deployed in and around the town in Spring 2015.
Cllr David Southward, Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet member responsible for economic development, said: “The roll out of superfast broadband across Cumbria brings so many benefits to residents and businesses, enabling more people to access education and training online, work from home, access tele health and benefit from internet prices.”
“Based in a rural area we have seen the many benefits superfast broadband can bring.  As many of our member veterinary practices are also in similar rural locations across the country we hope that the roll-out will continue so that everyone can start to benefit from the improvements it brings,” adds Joanne.