Unified Communications at First Rate

experts in foreign exchange services

Adam Jacobs

FRES Classification: Internal - Amber


About me

Adam Jacobs, IT Service Delivery Manager for First Rate Exchange Services

Blog: http://imapcblog.com

http://imapcblog.com/


About First Rate

First Rate is one of the largest providers of foreign currency to businesses across the UK

First Rate was established as a 50/50 joint venture company between Post Office and Bank of Ireland in 2002

First Rate’s innovation led to the Post Office pioneering 0% commission in 2001 which revolutionised the UK FX market

Through efficiency and innovation First Rate has enabled the PO to become the largest supplier of foreign currency in the UK

First Rate employs around 320 people


Why Office Communications Server?

• Encourage communications outside of e-mail

• Microsoft savvy IT Team (already using Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007)

• Neglected PBX (no longer fit for purpose)

• Familiar Office-style interface


Roll-out

• Focussed first on base requirements (PBX, Exchange & WAN)

• First Rate’s deployment encompassed all user profiles (remote workers, contact centre, office based, multi-site workers and the dreaded execs)

• Small pilot within IT and Projects Teams

• Designed and tested a phased deployment


Unified Communications & SharePoint Metrics

First Rate estimates a saving of 32mins per employee (238 deployed), per day via Office Communicator, based on:

• Click to call, no more looking up contact numbers and dialling manually

• Presence, why go upstairs or try mobiles when you can see people are out/in a meeting/on the phone?



First Rate estimates a saving of 38mins per employee (33 deployed), per day via SoftPhones • Deployed USB Catalina phones to hot desk areas and Directors

with multi-site offices (the ability to for people to reach you on your office DDI)

• Deployed USB Headsets for home working (existing office VPN utilised and no QoS needed!)



First Rate estimates a saving of 43mins per employee (238 deployed), per day via Microsoft Exchange 2007, based on:• Users can now receive voicemail indication and listen when

away from the office, via Outlook or BlackBerry therefore reducing travel



First Rate estimates a saving of £32k per annum when Office Communication Server R2 is deployed, based on:• A quarterly spend on 3rd party solutions of £8k per quarter


Employee Survey

• We asked 10 people a series of questions during Unified Communications training

• Criteria:

All attendees were asked 5 questions and ranked on a scale of 1 – 5

1 – Very Poor

2 – Poor

3 – Average

4 – Good

5 – Very Good


Q1. How would you rate the delivery of this new technology, taking into account business disruption and technical issues?


Q2. How would you rate this new functionality or envisage its use to the business?


Q3. How would you rate today's presentation?


Q4. How would you rate Outlook 2007 (ribbon bar, Exchange 2007 & Voicemail integration)?


Q5. How would you feel if IT decided to deliver the remaining Office 2007 components (Word, Excel & PowerPoint)?


First Rate Unified Communications & SharePoint Interesting Facts

Employees have changed the way they work as a result of UC

Employees aged >30 (69 staff) have found huge comfort in collaborating via IM

Employees aged <30 (169 staff) have really taken to “click-to-call”

Managers are very happy to have employee presence (no surprises here!)

Employees have started embedding voicemail within documents for Risk & Compliance purposes

People can forward voicemail (a definite time saver, no more post-its!)



Missed calls in your inbox, know who is trying to get hold of you

Voicemail out of office (set out of office once)

BlackBerry workforce uses Communicator for BlackBerry more presence and IM functionality

Utilised old Nortel PBX bought in 2001, just upgraded the firmware/cards for £12k

We have 5 RoundTables, we decided to purchase these as conference phones in view to adopting video conference next (price difference between previous conference phones was only £600)



Via the integration of our HR system with Active Directory we ensured that all contact information is maintained within Communicator (E.164)

Our SharePoint 2007 intranet interrogates all of this information and allows us to quickly feedback on news or documentation via the Communicator API

IT Service Desk has become location independent using headsets and USB phones, presence and IM, with this multi-site IT support would be impossible without more FTEs


Lessons Learned (if there is time)

E.164 – it might be a good time to check your active directory contact information

Outlook 2007 – you need this for play on phone (very useful if your corporate machines are locked down without sound support

Speak to your PBX vendor and initiate a project to upgrade/patch your neglected switch first

Directly attached OCS installations can provide greater presence capabilities (phone off-hook) – speak to your PBX vendor to see if you can achieve this

Technology

Unified Communications at First Rate