Anything goes with Integrated

VoIP adoption seems to have run longer than many first predicted. Calling VoIP the ‘next big thing’ is a phrase which seems to have dragged on longer than a night at the opera.

However if the fat lady is ever going to ready her vocal cords for
the final song, the market needs more attitudes such as the one displayed by recruitment firm Integrated Group.

Perth-based Integrated offers labour hire and recruitment services throughout Australia. It has approximately 500 office-based staff spread
across 48 locations nationwide.

Integrated Group is currently working with WA-based integrator Anything Telephones to migrate its entire voice and data communications infrastructure to a single nationwide IP backbone.

With 80 staff at its Perth head office, Integrated typically has fewer than 15 staff for each of its branch offices. The highly distributed nature of the business means that delivering consistent services across the entire business proves more challenging.

A significant proportion of Integrated’s phone calls are also between team members. The migration to IP telephony aims to allow reductions in communication costs and simplify the administration work needed to support a highly mobile workforce.

Michael Disbury, group information and communication technology manager at Integrated Group, said the firm started the implementation six months ago, kicking off the overhaul at Integrated’s Perth headquarters.

“We have 48 sites and will roll out the implementation to all of those locations. We have already deployed in eight or nine sites so far,” said Disbury. “Further deployments will depend on budget and if it is the right thing for some of the smaller sites. Hopefully in the next 12 to 18 months we will have done all of our sites.”

Disbury said Integrated is highly focused on tightly controlling operating expenses, as well as constantly looking at ways to improve its services.

“Our team needs to support thousands of contractors out at client sites. Our previous phone system used traditional PABX technology, which was expensive
and difficult to support,” he said.

Discussing the quantifiable benefits of the transition, Disbury said Integrated’s day-to-day manageability has improved, while the firm as a whole is more reactive to customers’ needs.

“Previously if we had a problem with our traditional PABX we would have to call someone out, but the new system is more manageable,” he said. “We are keeping the deployment simple and in the future will look at adding other application such as tighter integrating with our email system.

“Anything Telephones has been a key part of our team during the planning for our new Mitel phone systems. It’s helped us with efficient and reliable remote support for all of our voice solutions, as well as providing on-site assistance across Australia,” said Disbury.

“Our new Mitel phone systems are sent pre-configured to the new site, and can be remotely managed immediately. “

The importance of the channel in the rate of Australian VoIP adoption cannot be understated and this is underlined by Disbury, who said Integrated felt confident working with Anything Telephones, with whom it has a long-standing relationship.

“I would recommend Anything to other firms as an increasing number of businesses look to jump on the VoIP bandwagon. From a supplier perspective, compared with its rivals, Mitel comes out on top as it is very cost effective.”
Disbury said with Integrated team members regularly on the move, life has been made easier by Mitel’s Your Assistant Lite, a desktop interface that places and answers all phone calls.

“We have now integrated our phone system with our Windows applications, implemented simplified dialling, and have an automatic phone directory for the whole company,” said Disbury. “Team members can even make and receive work phone calls from their laptops, wherever they might be working.”
Disbury said it is important that Integrated was adopting a reliable offering such as Mitel’s due to the high number of offices it has distributed across Australia.

“At the moment we are just getting everything on to a standardised platform and we are also looking at a Vista upgrade, but will hold off at first and let other people make the mistakes first,” added Disbury.

Lyndon Croot, sales manager of Anything Telephones, said: “We are providing IP networking between Integrated’s sites and the plan is that Integrated is after more manageability of its network, which the Mitel offering can provide.”

Croot said Integrated will be able to plug a handset into its LAN anywhere and gain access, and having a common Mitel platform will make life easier for Integrated as it scales up as a firm.

“The next step for Integrated will be deploying soft phones on laptops so
employees have a road warrior situation and we will be trialling this very shortly. ”

Croot said the Mitel product is mature and reliable, which is a key factor as Anything feels conformable selling Mitel to customers as it’s assured it is going to work.

“We have been working with Mitel for 18 months and are actively selling its offering now. In that time Mitel has become 70 per cent of our revenue. We also work with NEC and Panasonic,” said Croot.

“VoIP is taking off in Australia. It looks and operates like traditional telephony and end-users are interested in additional desktop applications. End-users can really see the benefits of the product.”

Croot added that no vertical in particular has been adopting VoIP as the technology applies itself across the board as it is no longer much more expensive than traditional telephony.

Anything is using the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) for the deployment. According to Mitel, the platform is a communications system designed to support businesses from 10 to 65,000 users.

The 3300 ICP aims to provide IP networking and allows organisations to move toward a converged network, incorporating VoIP, unified messaging and video and audio conferencing.

“We always use the 3330 platform as it scales up so well,” Gwilym Funnell, managing director for Mitel Australia, told CRN.
“Most IP telephony projects are for remote site firms and one of the strengths of the 3330 is that it can provide this across all of the firms’ offices,” he said.

Funnell said with the 3330 platform costs remain low, but users still get the distributed offering they require.

“Mitel’s IP solutions make it easy for users to integrate their phone system with everyday software applications.,” he said.
“Mitel has been in Australia for four years and has built a purely indirect model. We have a two-tier model with two distributors and around 90 resellers across Australia,” said Funnell.

Funnell said Mitel still plans to cover gaps in its channel set-up, with more coverage in certain verticals and skill sets.

“The benefit of IP is that you can keep layering on new applications. Integrated Group can now link sites, every user has the same features wherever they are so they can hot desk, and they can also collaborate documents too.”

On the Australian VoIP adoption debate, Funnel said the fact Mitel has 90 active channels across Australia is testimony to the strong adoption rate in the region.

“We are finding that every vertical is adopting IP telephony. If a firm’s IT manager understands it, they will adopt it,” added Funnell.

The role of resellers such as Anything will be pivotal in the rate of VoIP adoption in Australia. The channel is the ‘feet on the street’ for new waves of technology. Integrated has an established relationship with Anything, which gave the firm the confidence to commit to such a large-scale investment.

Resellers have the established end-user relationships and need to have the ability to source the correct knowledge to educate end-users on the benefits of migrating their business to a VoIP environment.

As with a lot of emerging technology, end-users have preconceptions about VoIP, and it is resellers’ role to strip these away.

It is likely we have barely made the opera’s interval drinks in terms of widespread VoIP adoption by end-users, but the mind-set of firms such as Integrated is a huge step forward for the technology.