Scalable Communications
Gaining a competitive edge is essential for winning and retaining clients. We want to deliver the best service possible, and client communication is considered a pivotal part of our success, hence why IT plays such a significant role within the company.
Cripps Harries Hall
When Cripps Harries Hall LLP wanted to exploit remote working capabilities and increase client collaboration, it turned to Scalable Communications for a converged IP infrastructure.
Background
Cripps Harries Hall LLP (CHH) is a leading law firm based in the South East. With seven offices located in and around London, and over 300 employees, CHH provides a wide range of legal services to blue-chip enterprises, public sector organisations, charities and individuals.
Delivering a high quality of service whilst maintaining value for money is a priority for CHH, and as such, the company is keen to invest in the tools and processes that will further enhance the client experience.
Using information technology to work smarter and provide an efficient service to clients is critical. As a result, CHH is committed to the continuing investment and development of its IT architecture, and actively works with clients to provide innovative services and applications that will maximise billable time and facilitate client communications.
The Challenge
Managing and maintaining an IT network that will support emerging technologies and ensure it is used to its full potential, is the responsibility of Mike Burton, Head of IT at CHH:
“Gaining a competitive edge is essential for winning and retaining clients. We want to deliver the best service possible, and client communication is considered a pivotal part of our success, hence why IT plays such a significant role within the company.”
Like the majority of organisations, CHH’s IT architecture had been developed over a period of time and its voice and data traffic operated on disparate networks.
Burton explains, “Our existing networks had been in place for some time, however, with the emergence of IP technologies, we felt it was time to investigate how we could benefit from consolidating our voice and data traffic, and take advantage of the functionality available with an IP network.”
In particular, CHH was keen to exploit new practices such as remote working, interactive client information portals and the integration of mission-critical applications across the network. For Burton, deploying a new telephony system that would support the integration of these applications was a priority:
“The technical limitations of our pre-existing telephony system were leading to poor client service. We wanted to improve our personal response to client calls and believed we could achieve this with an IP architecture. For example, on-demand call recording, which can be invaluable in a legal environment.”
The Solution
Following a competitive tender process, Scalable Communications was awarded the design and implementation of a converged IP infrastructure.
Comments Burton, “Scalable’s experience and expertise in IP technologies, as well as a huge back-catalogue of customer references, gave us the confidence that they could deliver what we required, and more.”
Opting for a best-of-breed vendor solution using Extreme and Mitel technologies, Scalable was able to implement a secure converged IP architecture that would support collaborative applications and offer ‘easy-to-use’ remote working capabilities.
Using twinning technology from Mitel, Scalable included in the deployment a remote voice solution that would further support CHH’s aims to improve client response times, as well as achieve greater business continuity.
Comments Burton, “As a legal firm, real-time communication is critical. Any disruption or downtime can negatively influence the outcome of a case, and therefore remote capabilities for voice and data are essential.
“Incoming calls are now automatically fielded to both the relevant desktop and cell phone, allowing employees to answer from the most convenient device.”
The Result
The integration of business critical applications, including email, calendar, fax and telephony, into a converged network has benefited both clients and employees. CHH benefits from improved client response times and a more personal service, helping to retain and increase potential client revenues, whilst employees avoid ‘out of office’ delays and can gain real-time information on the move.
Such functionality, explains Burton, will enable CHH to deliver a better service, “Secure access to client information on the road removes any notion of ‘dead time’ and allows us to utilise a client’s time more efficiently.
“On top of this, the twinning technology also doubles up as part of our disaster recovery provisions, with the ability to maintain voice communications with clients in the event of an emergency.
“Ultimately, it made business sense to switch to an IP platform. We’re reducing complexity and are guaranteed improved performance across the network, but importantly, as a result employees are able to conduct multiple tasks simply, and quickly, with less administration.”
Burton concludes, “The consultancy we received from Scalable has been invaluable and influenced how our long-term ICT strategy aligns with overall business growth.”
For more information on Cripps Harries Hall LLP, visit www.crippslaw.com
01628 852 500
