It’s just over a year to go until communication providers replace the technology they use to provide fixed telephone networks in the UK. The analogue landline network has provided a vital lifeline for millions of people using personal alarm pendants or buttons for reassurance at time of need.
The switch to digital is set for January 2027. It is focusing the minds of those working in adult social care settings who are still reliant on legacy analogue systems for these telecare devices. The clock is ticking. So how ready are housing associations, care homes and other grouped care settings for the necessary upgrades and investment that will be required?
This article highlights the experience of Clarion Housing, which Everon Group has supported with its digital transformation, and of our colleagues in Finland and Sweden. These are countries which switched off analogue more than a decade ago. It also explains why investing in systems that capture data, trend and insight are the future for person-centred technology enabled care.
Supporting housing associations to go digital
Our partners in the UK such as Clarion Housing, one of the country’s largest housing associations, are well advanced in being digital ready. They manage 125,000 homes and support 350,000 people across the country. We continue to support them with phase one of digital transformation, a cable-free system with central data portal at its heart that is no longer reliant on hard wired cabling or analogue telephone lines. This supports their strategy for a true connected approach to services, using data, trend and insight and is already making a difference to over 7,000 residents.
From conversations with supported housing providers at industry events such as the International Technology Enabled Care Conference (ITEC) there are still a number who have yet to press go on replacing their existing legacy analogue systems. Many have digital transformation strategies in place but have yet to act. There is still time – with no cause for panic, yet - but with just over a year to go the time has arrived to move on from market testing.
Of course, it’s important to make the right decisions. These are big investments that require careful thought. The risk of making the wrong call doesn’t bear thinking about. The government’s policy paper on its Telecare National Action Plan for England published in February 2025 highlights the increasing unreliability of the old analogue landline network. It also states:
“We must avoid a situation where someone’s care line fails during a fall in the middle of the night because nobody made sure it worked properly with new technology.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Learning from our experience in the UK, Finland and Sweden
As a company, we are fortunate to have experience in two countries where digital transformation has been in place for over a decade. Everon Group began in Finland and later expanded to Sweden. Our experience in these markets is helping us to support our UK housing and adult social care partners.
The key learning for all is the impact cloud-based services gathering data, trend and insight can bring. These give providers the capability to increase capacity quickly; allowing them to ramp up and deliver services to meet demand. A key driver is the capability to centralise numerous data sources to create a central source of insight and dashboard trend. We are the biggest, by far, provider of wireless, cloud-based solutions for supported housing in Europe. That’s not something we take for granted and we’re looking forward to sharing more exciting news in the coming months on new products and partnerships. We’re not ones for standing still.
The difference between digital transformation a decade ago and today is how far technology has advanced. That said, cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) is nothing new and are trusted in sectors from banking and energy to travel and parking. While the NHS has created some fantastic apps, not least during the Covid pandemic, there is greater scope now than ever before for the UK to adopt a SaaS approach to meet the ambitions of both government and decision-makers across supported housing and adult social care provision to deliver a prevention led model of care. Technology has a huge contribution to make.
The power of data, trend and insight
Cloud-based services are more robust now than they have ever been with the capability to upgrade and evolve. With the help of advances in machine learning we can analyse data better than ever before and provide care providers with data, trends and insights that will help them to become more efficient, better able to prioritise and, through early intervention, support better outcomes for those in their care.
For those care providers still deciding how to proceed with their digital transformation this should be a key factor when deciding how best to achieve their long-term goals using technology to analyse data, pick our patterns and step in early, where necessary.
It's time to get away from waiting for people to have a fall at home or push their pendant in a crisis. We have the ability now to be able to be proactive not reactive, keeping people out of hospital or residential care for longer and in their own homes. The future is here. Its not about technology, that’s just an enabler and will change, its about data, its about trend and it’s about insight. That will be the key.
Everon Group works directly in the UK with commissioners of grouped or supported housing services – from housing associations to care home networks, local authorities to integrated care boards.
We specialise in cloud-based wireless technology that analyses data to provide insight for early detection of health issues. Everon Group has supported the likes of Clarion Housing, Hyde Housing, Community Housing and Jewish Care, working in continued partnership on the digital transformation of their estates.
To find out more about how Everon Group can support your organisation book a consultation and we’ll be in touch.
I was employee number two or was it four?
Everon Sweden was started in 2016 by Christer and Mona Arlehed. They hired Johan Broström (still here as System Project Manager) and two weeks after they hired me as a technical project manager.
There were still boxes in the hall
In the beginning, we were just four people running the show with no HR or IT-support and we had to do everything from scratch, which was fun. We were like building the airplane in the air.
And then I had a daughter…
I did two and a half maybe three years and then I left the company because I wanted to work more towards sales and those roles were already taken. And then I had a daughter and wanted a job that was closer to where she was.
I took a job selling hi-tech mattresses
This company did high-tech mattresses for hospitals and ICU units. I was national sales manager for five years. That was a good journey for me.
And then I came back to Everon SE
I met up with the Everon team at a trade fair and they asked if I would be interested in coming back into a public bid and business development role. That was one and a half years ago. By the time I left, there were around eight employees. When I re-joined, we were 30.
I had the best of both worlds
I didn’t just want to be answering tenders. I wanted more space, more creativity, more autonomy. I wanted to be affecting the processes, affecting the customers and ways of buying and selling. This position allowed me to do both.
And then a new job at Everon Group came calling
I was asked as part of review of how the company was run if I would be interested in starting a business unit for Everon Group, managing the tenders and quotes globally for Sweden, Finland and the U.K.
Standardising systems and ensuring best practice…
The job includes making sure we have best practice and golden standards in place for the benefit of our clients. The idea is for this unit to have a close connection with all parts of the company leading to better co-ordination and project support across the group. As part of that, I will also be implementing a new CRM system.
Building market understanding, and recognising difference
I’ve always wanted to work globally and see how things work in different countries. Finland, Sweden and the U.K are pretty close, but the cultures are different, including ways of working and the political and economic landscape. I’m just getting started but am looking forward to the challenge. That will mean both learning and sharing knowledge. I’m psyched to have this opportunity.
I like selling products that make a difference
Whether it’s mattresses or wheelchairs or alarms for the elderly, for me it’s about working in a sector that wants to make life better for people, that can make a difference. I also like the long processes and the administration of public sector tenders. That might just be me though.
Technology is developing really fast and we’re part of that story
We can see how much difference technology can make in care settings. Back in the day you would have just a motion detector. That was like a revolutionary thing as well. Four years from then to now and we have these super smart sensors that are so much more advanced, thanks to advances in AI and machine learning.
An exciting time to be part of the next phase of digital transformation
With demographic changes coming up in all three countries, we’re going to have really big challenges. It’s not about one supplier getting all the business. The question is more: Are we going to have enough suppliers to cover all the needs of customers? There’s room for more than one, which makes competition really good and healthy.
Quickfire Questions:
Secret to a happy life: Autonomy, purpose and flexibility
A typical day: At the moment, a lot of planning
Who inspires you the most: The people closest to me.
Favourite place: Stockholm
Signature dish: Cauliflower soup sprinkled with pancetta or ramen (I like Asian food)
Spare time passion: Training for a mile run, a half marathon then a full marathon. Reading all the classics.
Being a parent: Doing kids’ stuff is a lot of fun, and cooking food from scratch
Questions a six-year-old asks: Why do I brush my teeth in the morning? I haven’t had anything to eat since I brushed them in the evening.
Donna Brabin is an experienced relationship manager and commercial leader with a digital health SaaS sales background. We’re delighted to welcome her on board to support our mission at Everon Group to transform people’s lives through the power of data-driven technology.
She has a passion for making lives easier through tech and innovation, especially in healthcare software. Her experience in delivering SaaS based solutions and building long lasting relationships makes her a great addition to our sales team in the U.K.
Her enthusiasm and past experience navigating the complex world of the UK’s National Health Service will not only be useful for us as a team but also for raising understanding of the impact our intelligent, wireless cloud-based solutions can bring.
Donna is mum to a teenage daughter, two eight-year-old stepsons and a dog called Frida, named about the artist Frida Kahlo. Donna says: "I love people, music, art and most of all my family. I’d say I’m a positive person and extremely grateful for what I've got.
“I have a ‘life’s too short’ outlook on life and try to have as much fun as I can. I jumped out of a plane in 2023, that worked out ok thank goodness, although I wouldn’t do it again, once is enough."
“I’m already loving being a part of Everon Group. It’s an exciting time to be joining the company and I’m looking forward to showcasing what makes us stand out from the rest in delivering the highest quality person-centred care.”
Mark Smith is Everon Group’s UK Director of Sales and Marketing. Since joining the business last autumn, he has championed the latest in digital wireless cloud-based solutions for supported housing and commissioners of adult social care services. Thanks to hard work and passion across the team, the effort is paying off in the UK.
In this piece he explores how technology enabled care in supported housing and other health and social care settings can deliver return on investment, how ready the UK market is for digital switchover, and the importance of thinking less about the kit and more on the capabilities of software for improving person-centred care and the central data capture that sits within it. By using software that offers data, trends and insights it will support their own company strategies in delivering a more connected approach to services.
Bringing smart technology to person centred care
In over 20 years of working in the sector, Mark has seen many false dawns when it comes to the take up of smart technology within housing and adult social care in the UK. Could 2025 be the year it changes? It certainly looks that way.
Using TEC to deliver return on investment
While smart technology has been embraced in a range of sectors and industries from banking to energy suppliers, it has yet to have the same impact within supported housing and social care settings. From temperature control to sensors in cars that inform drivers when it’s time to inflate their tyres, the potential has long been there.
A combination of ongoing challenges impacting the care sector and exciting advances in data-driven technology is changing things at last.
“There are far more discussions now by housing and social care providers in the UK around return on investment,” Mark says, “That’s not just in monetary terms but outcomes for service users too. More providers are looking at how they can evolve their services to be more proactive.”
Digital switchover focusing minds
This was already happening before the change in government last July but has accelerated in the months since and - with digital switchover fast approaching - is now at a tipping point.
This has partly been through necessity as service commissioners grapple with the challenges of attracting enough staff, increased demand for services caused by demographic changes and rising costs plus policy reforms from Whitehall aimed at delivering a more prevention-led model of care.
“You’re in a situation where you’re losing people but not recruiting at the same rate. It’s the perfect storm of needing to deliver more things to more people with less resources and less money,” Mark added.
One thing that has changed the conversation in the months since Mark joined Everon Group is the growing awareness of AI and machine learning – including sensor-led technology that can provide staff with the data needed to pinpoint changes in behaviour and detect any deterioration in health at the earliest stage.
“The talk around machine learning and AI has increased significantly, even in the last six months. Our focus at Everon Group is to show how these technologies can support care providers in sustainably and safely delivering cost-effective, high-quality services,” Mark said.
Leading the conversation at ITEC 2025
This year’s ITEC conference in Birmingham provided the perfect opportunity to have that conversation with people working on housing and social care about where they are in their digital transformation journey. The team is now following up with more than 60 potential future clients spoken to over the course of the two-day event. The common theme from those spoken with at the event was a recognition that they may have limited financial resources, but they still need to do digital transformation.
“They were looking not just for the type of services the need to deliver now but also the need for data and the understanding of what AI and machine learning could bring,” Mark said.
Digital switchover is fast approaching
While there is still time for action, the long awaited switch off for analogue telephone networks by UK communication providers, in just over a year, and the implications for legacy telecare systems is focusing minds, not least in terms of making decisions on future investment.
“The timescale are tight if providers are to upgrade their systems before analogue telephone networks are switched off in January 2027, Mark says, “ITEC 2025 provided a chance to consider together what the implications, how they’re going to deliver, and what we – as a business – could do to help.”
Many housing and social care providers already have strategies in place that have a connected approach to delivering services to support a more preventative model of care. The conversation at ITEC and other events over recent months have revolved around putting those ambitions into action.
“A significant number in the care industry are still doing the market testing and are only starting their digital transformation now, even with timescales of less than a year. There is still time to get things sorted, and it’s vital that they make the right decision,” Mark said.
“Their choice is changing a blue one for a red one and getting what they’ve always got – and worse if they go for a short term ‘sticking plaster’ solution – or a digital cloud-based wireless solutions set up to provide data, trends and insights that will deliver for today and for the long-term as their services evolve, and more importantly supports their own company strategies in delivering a more connected approach to services.”
Understanding where technology is headed
From the conversations with those attending ITEC 2025 the challenge is one of understanding where technology is headed and how we can support them now and into the future. That includes being able to fund new digital systems. With that in mind, Everon Group has put flexible commercial options in place to help spread the cost of investment, including leasing terms thanks to a partnership with Siemens.
“Our focus is less on the kit – but on the capabilities of the software and its central data capture that sits within it. With our partnership approach, we can help our customers get the most out of this intelligent technology and data it provides moving at their pace while planning for the long term,” Mark said.
“SaaS based models in other sectors allows customers, whether in the public or private sectors to now consider revenue and capital options as a basis – such as price per month or per connection. That is where we’re headed as a sector.
“We are a business that are looking to evolve the services we provide over time into a more Saas based data-led ecosystem that provide data, trend and insights to care providers so they know where they should be focussing their efforts by being able to step in at the right time, whether that’s early intervention or putting in place a care package.
“If we’re to move to a preventative model of care then there is a real opportunity to make a real impact by using technology as an enabler for truly person-centred care.”
Everon Group works directly in the UK with commissioners of grouped or supported housing services – from housing associations to care home networks, local authorities to integrated care boards.
We specialise in cloud-based wireless technology that analyses data to provide insight for early detection of improvements or indeed declines in living independently social and healthcare issues to match personalised care. Everon Group partners include Clarion Housing, Hyde Housing, Community Housing and Jewish Care to name a few working in continued partnership on the digital transformation of their estates.
To find out more about how Everon Group can support your organisation book a consultation and we’ll be in touch.
