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Meet Shaun Slaney, Technical Manager at Taking Care

We caught up with Shaun Slaney, Technical Manager at Taking Care, for the first in our series of Technology Enabled Care (TEC) expert blogs.  

August 01, 2024

Shaun doing a product demonstration for clients
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In a nutshell can you please share what your day-to-day job looks like?

“Certainly! My responsibility covers the planning and evaluation throughout the whole product lifecycle, including any TEC products and equipment that could potentially be considered a best fit for Taking Care’s customers. So, my day-to-day is quite varied.

At Taking Care we’re constantly reviewing our TEC vision and seeing where there are gaps in customer requirements, which means I’m always gathering information about new and existing products. A lot of ‘shiny new’ kit comes my way. However, I’m mindful to ensure that any product considered must not only support the company’s overall strategy but also the current and future needs of our customers. 

Shaun Slaney
Technical Manager at Taking Care

The TEC market in general is growing rapidly and, particularly with all the new digital products and services, I have a steady stream of suppliers wanting my attention.

My role also extends from technical liaison between scheme suppliers and corporate customers to advise on system compatibility, right through to full integration testing. In essence I’m on the other end of the line as a tech-friendly resource for our corporate clients.”

Why are Taking Care strictly technology agnostic?

“As a technology agnostic first and foremost monitoring partner we’re not tied to any one supplier, which allows us to put our customers’ needs at the heart of what we do and gives Taking Care the ability to procure the “best on the market” TEC solutions. It also gives us the flexibility to move between suppliers when more advanced technologies become available, or user needs/requirements change. Therefore, we’re in a unique position to be able to support our corporate clients in finding the best solution for both them and for their service users.”

Could you explain a little more about Taking Care’s technical evaluation process?

Our product evaluation process is very rigorous and covers a full system connectivity and functionality test, resulting in a complete ‘proof of concept’ operational assessment report.

"We liaise with manufacturers to ensure products can meet our standardised requirements before evaluation. All new products are then passed through a full evaluation process, including full testing into our ARC platforms for connectivity compliance. New products that are flagged to be entered into our portfolio then go through Taking Care’s Product Assessment Group (PAG) process, prior to full project implementation. This allows us to get valuable insights from our front-line operators to feed back into commercial planning for the business and our corporate customers.”

What’s the value of this process for our corporate clients and their social housing and supported living customers?

“Our corporate clients really value our technical knowledge and expertise of working with a multitude of systems and TEC combinations. As our core customer base is private personal alarm users, we ensure that the alarm service we provide them with is as robust as possible.

Our extensive hands on B2C customer experience requires us to be constantly testing and collaborating with BT to be ahead of the curve and feeding our customer requirements back to the industry. This puts us in a great position as an experienced technical advisor and ‘go between’, supporting our corporate clients in quick and efficient integration of both dispersed and schemes.

How important is working in partnership with our suppliers and corporate clients?

“It’s hugely important, as we work collaboratively with our corporate partners who trust us to be impartial technology experts. For example, for local authorities, digital means an increased OPEX cost (i.e. monthly SIM costs) as well as CAPEX for new more expensive equipment that will have a shelf life – like a mobile phone, as networks change (the closure of the 3G network to 4G). As an industry we’re closely watching “digital obsolescence” as the technology changes in a way that wasn’t an issue in analogue days and how this can be built into our corporate clients’ plans.

I’m also often called in to supply a high-level technical triage or just some friendly technical advice and guidance by our corporate clients, which I’m more than happy to assist with!”

What is your TEC tip of the month?

“I would stress that even though BT Openreach have announced a 13-month delay in the PSTN switch off, the old copper wire systems won’t be getting any younger, so I would strongly suggest that you don’t delay in migrating to digital systems. If you need any informal help and advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at shaun.slaney@ppptakingcare.co.uk . I’d be happy to help!”


Shaun Slaney

Shaun Slaney is a highly experienced manager with over 20 years’ of experience in telecare. He joined Taking Care in 2016, as Refurbishment Technician Team Leader, moving on to Refurbishment Manager and then in 2018 to Technical Manager, his current role. 

Shaun is responsible for the product planning, evaluation and testing of new equipment prior to launch into our private pay and corporate markets. His expert and extensive knowledge of the TEC market ensures that our customers always have the ‘best of breed’ and most innovative solutions available. He has previously worked for Age UK, as well as the Ministry of Defence and the HM Armed Forces.


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