Four VoIP must-haves

For Hitachi Consulting, four key features of its IP phone system stand out:

Presence. Hitachi’s ShoreTel system can indicate presence, so that when users click on an employee’s name in the online company phone directory, they can quickly see if the person is on the phone, in a meeting or otherwise unavailable. “It lets us use one receptionist to handle the whole company,” says Mike Shisko, director of IT at Hitachi Consulting. “Everyone knows instantly the status of the person they’re trying to transfer to, so we don’t do blind transfers anymore.”

Mobility. A key VoIP selling factor for Hitachi, which primarily employs consultants who travel frequently between offices, is its mobility. “You can be all over the world, but log into your phone and have the exact same contact info,” Shisko says. “When I’m in London or Madrid, I just log into the phone there and when somebody calls my 214 number in Dallas, it rings on my desk in Europe.”

Conferencing. The VoIP system enables Hitachi to do in-house audio conferencing. The firm had been using an outside vendor to handle 100,000 minutes of conference calls a month at 15 cents a minute. When it moved that capability in-house, via software integrated with the ShoreTel system, the cost went to just 6 cents a minute. Although usage blossomed to 400,000 minutes per month shortly after the move, the company easily saw an eight-month ROI. In addition, the VoIP conferencing system provides for easier collaboration. “Right from the ShoreTel interface, we can launch a conference, share presentations and do whiteboarding,” Shisko says.