Microsoft partner IComm celebrates Toyota's Skype rollout

IComm has helped Toyota Australia develop a voice strategy following last year's deployment of Skype for Business across five sites, helping connect 2,000 staff members.

The Melbourne-based unified communications reseller also helped Toyota run the Sonus Gateway technology deployed for a select number of users to be enterprise voice.

IComm was awarded the tender for Lync project in December 2014, which went live in April 2015. The initial project included 1,500 Jabra headsets and 100 Microsoft USB cameras, which made it easier for staff to also connect to overseas counterpart.

The integrator worked with Toyota to create and deliver a change management plan that would help users transition to the new technology. IComm also helped Toyota develop customised training and promotional materials.

The division of the Japan-headquarted car giant did not have an integrated technology that allowed easy connection within its sites. There were several technologies in place that had been deployed at different times. This made the system across Toyota inconsistent.

Toyota Australia end user support and services manager Kane Collins said: "We had quite a disparate IT environment with a Polycom 42 end point video conferencing solution, mail and [instant messaging] solution delivered by Lotus Notes, Sharepoint for document sharing and a hybrid NEC PABX environment, together delivering a mixed bag of collaboration tools across all sites."

Toyota decided that the entire organisation should use the same technology and chose the Microsoft Suite and Skype for Business.

Kellie Logan, Toyota Australia corporate property and asset protection manager, said: "Some of the challenges with the older technology was availability and reliability. This was particularly the case with some of our video conference networks as they were not very reliable and it was difficult to book these facilities at short notice."

IComm account director Stuart Callaghan said that Lync made Toyota staff feel more included in the company as a whole, on both national and global level.

"Staff are not tied to their desks and can use the technology at work, from home, from another office, while travelling, while on the road," said Callaghan.

The unified communications integrator offered Toyota staff briefing and training sessions where they learned about the technology and how to use the hardware.

"I think the technology together with IComm's strong project team and Toyota's change and communication's team was a recipe for success. I would definitely recommend IComm," said Toyota's Collins.

IComm was recently awarded Jabra's UC partner of the year showing a 100 percent hit rate in all business opportunities.