Firm’s telecom manager recounts the savings and productivity gains.
Thank goodness we followed a telecom system standardization process. That’s what I think looking back at where Grant Thornton was compared with where we are now. Grant Thornton, LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, a global accounting, tax and business advisory organization. The organization has member firms in 110 countries, including 49 offices in the U.S.
Grant Thorton’s telecom consolidation timeline
When I accepted the position of national manager of telecommunications in November 1998, the firm didn’t have a telecom department. Each office did its own thing when it came to telecom, with managers, partners, or in some cases, IT folks making decisions. Soon after taking the job, I realized it would be a bigger task than I anticipated. Today, my six-person telecom department supports 4,400 employees.
In 1998 we had 44 offices, with a mixed bag of PBXs, key systems and Centrex lines. We needed to address potential Y2K issues such as system software not being able to roll to 2000. In doing so, we knew changes would be made to our environment to allow for growth, align our business strategy and enable all offices to work as one firm.
We agreed to replace any telecom system that required more than $5,000 in upgrades. Our goals were to be certain we wouldn’t be hit with any Y2K issues and begin our telecom standardization process. Lucent Technologies (now Avaya ) won our business because of its good technical foresight.
To make this phase of the project and our overall plan a success, the support of senior leadership was critical. We put benefits into terms managers could relate to: Standardization gives you the ability to change directions quicker and support the environment with greater efficiency, because the processes were built to align with our overall strategy. Sharing our intentions fostered trust and opened lines of communication.
In the first year, we replaced 25 systems. As with most in the industry, Y2K came and went without any problems, and we continued replacing systems. Establishing a process for upgrades and system enhancements contributed to the evolution of our organization.
When we were rolling out PBXs, I was tasked with mapping our growth strategy with an eye on business continuity. Strategic initiatives such as five-digit dialing among Grant Thornton offices allowed personnel to operate together regardless of location. Our mantra was not to do technology for the sake of technology, but to implement technology that complemented our environment and made business sense.
We passed on VoIP technology from Cisco , which was in the early stages of establishing a presence in the market. Our plan was less expensive and provided us with space to grow without having to replace our entire environment. Having purchased new digital phones in 1999 and 2000, we didn’t see any benefit in replacing them with IP phones.
Instead, we opted to implement IP trunking in 2001, hoping for at least a 25% decrease in long-distance costs. We didn’t have a way to track interoffice dialing, so the 25% was just an educated guess. We also implemented a call accounting package and E911 from RedSky Technologies to help us measure, track and report on our savings; and a phonetic directory that lets users easily locate each other.
These add-ons were reinvestments of the money we saved through lowered maintenance costs, the cancellation of local telco services and telecom cost auditing. A year after our VoIP trunking was in place, we noticed a 65% decrease in our long-distance bills, saving more than $400,000. This financial efficiency and potential growth opportunity built confidence in the team and showed senior leadership we were aligned with the firm’s goals. It gave the telecom department a contributing voice in mapping the direction of all converged technologies.
By 2003 we had a robust network, IP trunking in full swing, call accounting and phonetic operator running on our network. We followed the convergence path and implemented Avaya’s Modular Messaging, a unification product for e-mail and voice mail. The technology converges two major forms of communication without increasing overall costs. Our road warriors can listen to voice mail and read e-mail at the same time over a VPN connection. Replies and requests are addressed faster and information can be shared among team members more easily.
In late 2004, we upgraded our major hubs (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas) to the next generation of Avaya’s IP systems, the S8700, but did not see any benefit in changing our phones. We gained redundancy along with better software and the ease of migration for future IP and SIP applications. For example, we can add next-generation G700 media gateways with an S8300 media server (local survivable processor) in the field that runs from the S8700, which contains the licenses and brains of the telecom system. The benefits of such an arrangement include enterprise licensing, increased call handling for voice mail calls, limited systems for programming and remote survivability if the link goes down. It also limits upgrade and hardware costs, and makes moves easier.
The year 2005 has been a resting period of sorts. Our goals have focused on a few minor upgrades, system maintenance and future planning. Our vision is to ride the VoIP wave, choosing products that will provide cost saving or business alignment and passing on those that do not – for example, IP-only systems that require us to replace our current infrastructure and scrap our investment.
Having seen the evolution of IP and convergence products, we realize choices must be a balance of business goals, company direction and cost-saving financial analysis.
Lopez can be reached at Kevin.Lopez@GT.com.
