“Vodafone Unified Communications gave us the confidence to bid for an important facilities management contract. It will allow us to work effectively across fifteen locations across the Middle East, North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe – something we would not have been able to do previously.”
Gordon Mitchell, ICT Manager, Key Facilities Management
Key Facilities Management wanted to deliver better customer service by improving the way it communicates internally and with clients. So the company decided to unify its fixed-line, mobile, email, desktop and web communications. Thanks to Vodafone Unified Communications, a solution that uses the cloud-based Vodafone One Net combined with Microsoft Online Services, Key Facilities Management has reduced costs, made administration more efficient and ultimately given its staff the freedom to focus on doing their job as effectively as possible.
Looking for a seamless all-in-one solution
Key Facilities Management helps international and UK businesses improve their operational efficiency by providing a wide range of services – from outsourcing and project management, to identifying and managing buildings of all types and sizes.
The company has offices in the UK in Stirling and Prestwick.
With approximately half its staff constantly moving around the UK and internationally to visit clients and prospects, communication is at the heart of Key Facility Management’s business. However, with various desktop, fixed-line, email and web platforms evolving over time, this multi-platform landscape was difficult to maintain and meant communication between staff wasn’t always as efficient as it could be.
“Our vision was to reduce the number of communication platforms we were reliant on so that we could communicate more efficiently internally and with our clients. A simplified approach to telecoms would also be more cost effective and easy to manage,” says Gordon Mitchell, ICT Manager, Key Facilities Management.
“We made the decision to introduce a unified communications platform for external communications. This meant that we could provide our workforce with seamless communications but with all the additional functionality that would help them do their jobs more efficiently. This was not simply about saving money;
it was about getting more functionality at the same cost.”
The company chose Vodafone Unified Communications, which combines Vodafone One Net with Microsoft Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. Vodafone is the first UK mobile operator to integrate software services with mobile and fixed-line services.
“Microsoft Office 365 from Vodafone gives us the ability to scale up our operations quickly without being throttled by our lack of bandwidth and without having to invest in infrastructure.”
Gordon Mitchell, ICT Manager, Key Facilities Management
Much simpler and more effective
“We found Vodafone Unified Communications especially attractive as it offered a one-stop shop to satisfy our internal communications requirements,” says Gordon. “By giving staff just two devices – one to communicate with each other internally and one to receive messages or access information – we have simplified our telecoms and provided them with the tools to work more effectively while maintaining our cost base.”
“Vodafone One Net means that our mobiles and landlines are networked, making group administration easier. It also means that our customers can reach us wherever we are in the country.”
Better for staff and for the business
Staff can locate emails more easily, so they can quickly find and retrieve information as soon as a client requests it, even via their mobile devices.
“Using Microsoft Exchange on mobiles has liberated our staff and, from a business perspective, this makes the mobile devices more economically viable,” says Gordon. “I personally use four platforms and I don’t have to think where something is located;
it’s just there. I have complete freedom and control.”
“Moreover, SharePoint offers the business great scope; an ability to automate processes, streamline operations and dictate
Vodafone O ne Net
M
One bill One contract One support number
Enhancing cloud-based collaboration for the future
Recently, Key Facilities Management has further enhanced its communications by deploying Microsoft Office 365 from Vodafone, so staff can access familiar Microsoft Office desktop applications via the cloud wherever they happen to be working, using whichever device they have to hand. As a result, staff can work more effectively with each other and with clients, and the company simply pays a monthly fee for the service rather than having to make any upfront capital investment.
“Microsoft Office 365 from Vodafone gives us the ability to scale up our operations quickly without being throttled by our lack of bandwidth and without having to invest in infrastructure,” says Gordon. “The international contract that we won has benefited from the Microsoft Office 365 platform in that we can effectively deliver applications and services to our workers in the field.”
“Cloud technologies are the only way forward for our business.
Putting in a new server and providing support could have cost upwards of £6,000 but instead we have low, predictable monthly costs with the ability to add new staff members quickly,” says Gordon. “Vodafone One Net and Microsoft Office 365 from Vodafone are currently operating in parallel but we are looking forward to being able to more closely integrate the platforms and provide a truly unique collaborative mobile solution for our team.”
Delivering productivity and adding value
Vodafone Unified Communications has enabled Key Facilities Management to combine real-time communications such as phone calls, instant messaging and conferencing with non real-time communication services like voicemail and email.
Consequently, the company has simplified its entire communications environment and gained additional functionality without increasing costs. As a result they can work more quickly, retrieving information instantly and reaching each other and their clients wherever they are.
The communications environment is also a lot easier to manage and workforce relationships have improved. “Unifying our communication platforms lets me use my time to bring value to the business. Without doubt, the Vodafone solution is driving added value to customers while reducing our monthly costs by at least 10%,” says Gordon.
“Cloud technologies are the only way forward for our business. Putting in a new server and providing support could have cost upwards of
£6,000 but instead we have low, predictable monthly costs with the ability to add new staff members quickly.”
Gordon Mitchell, ICT Manager, Key Facilities Management
