businessSmarter

efficiency flexibility productivitythe guide_01

why now is the time to upgrade your communications systemwhy now is the time to upgrade your communications system

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boost productivity / Why

n order to build a business case for capital expenditure, you need to be able

to show clear productivity gains which deliver a good return on your initial investment. So what can you expect to achieve from using IP communications?

Steve Blood, research vice president and analyst at Gartner puts forward the case for IP. “The objective [of IP] is to make people more productive. This is not about working 25 hours a day. It’s about eliminating inefficient communications,” he says.

Take the example of

Yorkshire’s largest taxi firm, Sheffield City Taxis, which switched to an IP-based system from BT. The company’s productivity improved massively through the use of intelligent integrated software. This allows the company to consolidate text, email, internet and automated booking and dispatch onto one platform.

The results are impressive. The firm now completes an average of 55,000 jobs a week, a quarter of which are automated end-to-end with no operator intervention. In addition, customers can now

manage their own bookings via the internet, tracking the progress of any job in real time as it’s happening.

Managing director Bob Turnbull explains, “The infrastructure they built made it easy to amalgamate operations from other car fleets. This really helped us win over new customers quickly and grow the business.”

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Source: ipsos-reid BlackBerry study, 2005

With mobile messaging you can save up to an hour of work time a day – equivalent to an extra customer visit per day

1 hour

ultiply the number of people in your company by the amount of time

they spend on the phone every day, and you’ll quickly see how important an efficient and flexible phone system is to your business. Your communications system (also known as your telephone system or PBX ) allows your staff to take calls, route calls, find the best person to handle a query, and reach new and existing customers. If they can’t do all this with minimal time and effort, then the inefficiency of your system is costing you money.

If this sounds familiar,

now is the time to move to a communications system based on Internet Protocol (IP).

IP systems don’t just deliver more flexibility. They offer increased productivity, and a reduction in the cost of your communications, while giving you a strong platform for future growth, which will allow you to expand in a cost-effective way. Plus, through call centre applications, it can help you deliver the kind of service which will exceed customer expectations and put you ahead of the competition – contributing to your bottom line for years to come.

In this guide, we take you through some of the ways that an IP-based system can contribute to the success of your business, from productivity gains through to flexible mobile working that will allow you to respond more quickly to customer needs. By the end, we hope you’ll be ready to find out how we can help you make the transition.

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“ The inefficiency of your systems could be costing you money”

‘‘ The infrastructure built made it easy to amalgamate operations from other car fleets. This really helped us win over new customers quickly and grow the business’’

Why change? Boost productivity

Next steps... If your system supports it, work out how many calls in your office go unanswered per day.

How much potential revenue are you missing out on?

Next steps... How many systems do you have? How much do they cost to maintain per year? Your BT account manager can help you find these details.

For more information on how IP could help boost productivity, call your BT contact.

hoW it helpSIP boosts productivity by… Streamlining

message-handling. Creating a smooth

communications management service.

Speeding up the handling of voicemail and messages.

allowing staff to work anywhere in a building.

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Bob Turnbull, Managing Director, Sheffield Taxis Ltd

Reduce costsImprove customer service

improve customer service / WhyWhy / reduce costs

Building Virtual relationships survey, Bt Business, March 2009

of companies using unified communications reported that productivity benefits have grown. More than 60 per cent reported savings of three or more hours per week for each mobile worker

86%

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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors estimate that the average cost of occupying a desk is £8733 per person, per year in the uk

£8733

“ Upgrading our comms has transformed the way we work”

Next steps... Audit your company calls. How many of them are inter-site calls which could be costing you nothing with an IP-based system?

Next steps... Consider how easy it is for customers to contact individuals.

How often do calls from customers get misdirected to the wrong number?

P systems don’t just boost productivity: they can also help you to make

significant cost reductions, the most obvious being the move to a single network. Instead of maintaining, powering and cooling two networks, you only have one, reducing ownership and administration costs.

And that’s not all. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors estimate that the average cost of occupying an office desk is £8733 per person, per year in the UK. With an IP-based communications system working out of the office is easier. The remote worker can make and take calls as if they were in the office, but without the cost to your business.

For example upgrading its communications system has enabled the Devon-based

law firm Kitsons LLP to “transform the way we work,” according to ICT and projects partner Peter Creber. “We have hot desks in every office. Staff no longer have to go back to their own office to pick up voicemails and can tap into the network from any location resulting in significant efficiency gains. It’s been a massive leap forward for us.” For more on Kitsons LLP see www.kitsons-solicitors.co.uk

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For more information on how IP could help reduce costs call your BT contact.

he typical business card has five lots of contact information; a physical address, a

phone, mobile and fax number and an email address. All are routed, via different networks, to one place.

Today, with 24/7/365 business, flexible working, and tighter deadlines, many items on that list have become redundant. Your business now needs to be connected constantly and seamlessly, wherever you are – and you need to respond fast.

With IP-based systems, the business communications hub is no longer chained to the desktop, and your email and phone number are no longer tied to a single fixed location. They become fluid and they move with you.

Now, with IP, your business card only needs to feature an email address, a single phone number and possibly an Instant Messaging (IM) address.

The customer knows that, whichever option they choose, they’ll always reach you. The IM will tell them if you’re online and may even give your location; your email will redirect to wherever you are, and the call

will be routed to the right phone. Not only does this make your customers’ lives easier, but it also cuts out the hassle if you change numbers or email addresses.

And, it’s not just about helping your customers. IP makes looking after them much easier too. Integrating your computer and telephone networks allows you to be more sophisticated in the way you make and take calls.

Connecting your communications system to your customer database means they are speaking to the right person at the right time, so you can spend more time helping customers, and less time diverting calls.

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“ With IP, your email and phone number are fluid and move with you”

For tips and advice on improving customer service with IP, callyour BT contact.

hoW it helpSIP reduces costs by… reducing call

charges, particularly between sites.

Cutting support and running costs, by consolidating phone and data into a single network.

Makingmoreefficientuseofofficespace,byenabling hot-desking and home working.

avoiding engineer call-out charges by making changes such as desk moves something that can be easily handled in-house.

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hoW it helpSip can help improve customer service by… Connecting your most

profitablecustomerstothe right staff straight away, helping increase your revenue.

Making it easier for staff to handle customer contacts appropriately, and in good time.

Cutting down on the number of missed calls and missed contact opportunities.

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Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors;

Property in the Economy, A digest and

review of key data and statistics; 2008

or more than 150 years, bt has been at the forefront of communications technology. It operates in

more than 170 countries around the world and has links with all the leading players in technolo gy.

this means bt can take on any project, no matter how big or small, giving you one vendor and one point of contact. Plus, if you choose BT for a major project, you will also have a designated BT project manager who will coordinate every aspect of the solution, from design and configuration, to installation and training.

But don’t just take our word for it. Independent analysts, Gartner, positioned BT’s Global Services division in the “Leaders” quadrant in three of its key Magic Quadrants: the Global Network Service Providers, the pan-european network service Providers and the Magic Quadrant for Communications Outsourcing and Professional Services, Worldwide.

in its global network service Providers (NSP) report, Gartner defines leaders as companies that have “a full portfolio of voice and data products coupled with above-average service and support, wide global coverage and competitive pricing. They have a strong

vision that includes adopting more information and communication technology (ICT) capacity, a strategy they articulate clearly and openly”.

BT is one of the few companies skilled in all the relevant technologies for moving any company to IP, including voice, data, messaging and integration. And with our 21st Century Network, which lies at the core of many of our IP-based services, we can deliver fast network speeds and the best business services to suit your every need.

But we’re more than just a technology leader. We also have the people, skills and experience to put technology to work in a way which perfectly suits your business needs.

so, whether your business is just beginning its story, or is long-established and looking to rationalise existing infrastructure, we can use our expertise to deliver the best IP solutions for you.

WHY BT?Internet Protocol will bring your business into the 21st century and, with BT as a partner, our experience could help your business cut costs and increase productivity

f “ BT can take on any project, no matter how big or small, giving you one vendor and one point of contact”

Now’s the time to start looking at how IP could help your business. Whether you’re looking to control costs, or to increase the agility of your company going forward, your BT account manager can help you. For more information on individual products and services, call 0800 032 5699

for more INFORMATION…

HOW MuCH COuLd YOu SAvE?look at the cost of your current system and work out how much uprading could save you. What is the cost of maintaining your

current communications system? estimate the revenue that you

lose each month from missed calls - and multiply by 12 for annual losses.

An empty desk costs £8733* per annum in overheads. How many of yours are empty? *Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors; Property in the

Economy, A digest and review of key data and statistics; 2008

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Next steps... Look at the number of empty desks in your office. Could you use less space and save money by moving to hot-desking?

Why / flexibleworking

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of senior managers and directors believe that people who work on a flexible basis are more productive and 41 per cent of employees think flexible workers are more loyal to their employersdynamic Markets -FlexibleWorking2009survey

55%

Flexible working

“ Helping staff improve work/life balance is crucial”

here is already a growing number of employees working remotely in the UK,

with around 3.1 million people regularly working from home. IP systems can help your business achieve better results from flexible working, bringing real benefits to your bottom line.

Staff can work from home with exactly the same phone features as they have in the office, with full remote access to their main site PC applications and documents. Customers and colleagues can reach home workers as if they were in the office, using the same phone number, and calls between home and the office are carried over broadband with no additional call costs.

With IP-based systems, productivity levels are easily managed and improved. Plus, features such as presence and instant messaging allow managers a visual indication of where employees are at any given time, no matter whether in or out of the office.

But it’s not only the effect on your bottom line which

makes IP-based flexible working important: it can also help you retain your best people. Marketing agency, Caseworks, implemented a BT-managed Cisco Unified Communications system partly because of the potential for improved staff retention.

As managing director Phil Lumb put it, “The business has grown by building long-term relationships with clients who value our consistently high quality. Those standards can only be maintained by attracting and retaining high-calibre people, so helping them to improve their work/life balance is a crucial aspect.”

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For details on how BT can help you implement flexible working, callyour BT contact.

how it helpsIP improves flexible working by… giving staff

accesstoofficecommunications, anytime, anywhere.

giving customers access to your staff, even when they are out oftheoffice.

Makingworkingflexiblyas cost-effective as workingintheoffice.

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