Success Story Commercial lender adopts unified communications OSEO Paris, France 1,800 employees located at over 40 sites Challenge • Address end-of-life of existing telephone systems • Reduce support costs • Enhance worker productivity Solution • Replaced conventional PBX telephone systems with Cisco Unified Communications VoIP • Integrated Unified Communications system with IBM Lotus Notes • Trained key users Results • Gave the innovation-focused OSEO organization a way to lead by example • Provided greatly enhanced communications functionality • Simplified and centralized the infra- structure while enhancing scalability • Achieved significant ROI and cost reduction Challenge Paris, France-based OSEO is a public financial institution formed to support the innovation and growth of small and medium-sized businesses through the distribution of government financing. It focuses in particular on innovation, with the aim of developing the French economy. OSEO is a geographically diverse organization with 40 regional branches across France in addition to its Paris headquarters. Each site had its own conventional private branch exchange (PBX) telephone system, with a larger master system located at headquarters. This outdated, 15-year-old infrastructure was reaching end-of-life and its limitations were seriously hampering the productivity of the business. Cost and complexity were major issues. Each system was supported separately at great expense, through local contractors. In addition, the nature of the existing telephone infrastructure was actually leading to lost customer calls as the system’s voice mail was so complicated that few people used it. Workers were tied to their desks because they could not forward their extension to other phones. Even common functions like conference calling were not available.
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Success Story
Commercial lender adopts unified communications
OSEO
Paris, France
1,800 employees located at over 40 sites
Challenge
• Addressend-of-lifeofexisting
telephonesystems
• Reducesupportcosts
• Enhanceworkerproductivity
Solution
• ReplacedconventionalPBX
telephonesystemswithCisco
UnifiedCommunicationsVoIP
• IntegratedUnifiedCommunications
systemwithIBMLotusNotes
• Trainedkeyusers
Results
• Gavetheinnovation-focusedOSEO
organizationawaytoleadbyexample
• Providedgreatlyenhanced
communicationsfunctionality
• Simplifiedandcentralizedtheinfra-
structurewhileenhancing scalability
• AchievedsignificantROIand
cost reduction
Challenge
Paris, France-based OSEO is a public financial institution formed
to support the innovation and growth of small and medium-sized
businesses through the distribution of government financing. It
focuses in particular on innovation, with the aim of developing the
French economy.
OSEO is a geographically diverse organization with 40 regional
branches across France in addition to its Paris headquarters.
Each site had its own conventional private branch exchange
(PBX) telephone system, with a larger master system located at
headquarters. This outdated, 15-year-old infrastructure was
reaching end-of-life and its limitations were seriously hampering
the productivity of the business.
Cost and complexity were major issues. Each system was supported
separately at great expense, through local contractors. In addition,
the nature of the existing telephone infrastructure was actually
leading to lost customer calls as the system’s voice mail was so
complicated that few people used it. Workers were tied to their desks
because they could not forward their extension to other phones.
Even common functions like conference calling were not available.
2
“ Now, we are displaying the kind of sophistication
and advanced thinking we hope to encourage
in our clients.”
OSEO wanted to improve the productivity of its employees by
providing highly functional, consistent communications across the
whole organization. Integration with email and instant messaging
were key design criteria to give workers greater flexibility in how they
interact with one another and with customers. By removing the bar-
riers between voice and electronic channels and providing functions
that cross over from the voice realm to the digital desktop, OSEO
professionals would find it far easier to stay in touch at all times.
Solution
OSEO elected to replace its entire telephony infrastructure
with a Voice Over IP (VoIP) solution based on Cisco® Unified
Communications, implemented and integrated by IBM. Rather than
separate PBXes at each site, the entire system, with the exception
of the IP telephones and network infrastructure at the branches, is
housed on two Cisco servers – based on IBM System x® technology –
at the Paris headquarters.
The selection of IBM® and Cisco® was based on several factors,
according to Xavier de Broca, CIO of OSEO. “We sensed a strong
team. We understood that Cisco and IBM project managers had
already worked together and felt confident in one another even at the
highest skill level. Also, Cisco had a simple architecture that was well
suited to our needs and on which we will be able to build the rest of
our architecture for years to come.”
A key point was the integration of the new VoIP system with OSEO’s
existing Lotus Notes® solution. Now, users have a single integrated
communications toolset that combines telephony with email and
instant messaging, using the Notes interface that they already know.
It is no longer necessary to switch between applications to commu-
nicate in different ways, which simplifies the task load for workers.“ We must ensure that branches, the head
office, the salespeople, the experts, the front
office and the back office can quickly exchange
information to help those customers.”
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The integration of telephony with the desktop opens up a wide range
of new capabilities. For example, when a new voice mail arrives, the
employee receives an alert in Notes. Each person has full access to
his or her messages and contacts, from any desktop, so they need
not stay in their office. It also includes useful capabilities such as
click-to-call, where a phone number in any email or document can
be dialed simply by clicking on it.
IBM, working with local provider OBS, performed the deployment of
the entire system and also did the necessary Lotus upgrades and
integration, all without disrupting regular operations at OSEO. “The
deepest familiarity with Notes was another important factor in our
selection of IBM and Cisco for this project,” says Mr. de Broca. “It
went very fast. We really didn’t lose any time, which was an indica-
tor of our success from the users’ point of view. They barely noticed
anything being done – one day there was a working system. It was,
ultimately, very easy to accomplish.”
A final critical part of the engagement was change management.
Thanks to the leveraging of Lotus Notes, most users needed only to
become familiar with a simple new toolbar added to their desktop.
IBM did more extensive training of all administrative assistants and
support personnel at OSEO headquarters, along with key employees
at each branch office.
Results
Simplification and cost reduction
Thanks to the elimination of dozens of separate and costly support
contracts, OSEO has realized a very strong return on investment. The
physical infrastructure is also far simpler and more reliable, reducing
the need for ongoing maintenance. The only equipment required at
the branch offices are basic networking hardware such as switches
and routers, and the telephones themselves; all key components are
housed at OSEO’s headquarters.
Productivity
OSEO employees are now far more effective thanks to the conver-
gence of communications methods and the system’s ease of use.
The organization worked with IBM to create a dashboard that
monitors such metrics as call handling efficiency, which has shown
a marked increase. In addition, a survey conducted months after
the system went online shows that users are far more satisfied with
their new tools.
More important is that OSEO is able to better serve its clients.
“Responsiveness to our customers is absolutely essential,” says
Mr. de Broca. “We must ensure that branches, the head office, the
salespeople, the experts, the front office and the back office can
quickly exchange information to help those customers. Now that
we can choose the right communication tool for any given situation,
we are able to do that much better than we could before.”
Organizational efficiency
OSEO management was won over by the organizational potential
of the new system, according to Xavier de Broca. “Having a single
telephone infrastructure for all of OSEO allowed us to combine
call centers and branches. That gives us much more effective and
responsive call handling, which is very important when dealing with
our entrepreneurial customers. They can be sensitive to inefficiency.”
Scalability
Unlike conventional hard-wired PBX systems, a VoIP system is inher-
ently scalable since it is a computer network. Mr. de Broca explains
that “The fact that this system can be very quickly and transparently
scaled is important to our future. The next steps for us are to add
video capability and support for mobile phones. We will not have to
certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document or Website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship
between Cisco and any other company.
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Global Business Services, Lotus Notes and System x are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other
countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common
law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is
available on the web at “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
CSC03015-USEN-00
Because adding extensions or even whole new branch offices
involves nothing more than adding new network nodes and con-
figuring additional addresses, the system can support almost any
future growth scenario. While increased capacity was not one of the
organization’s primary requirements for the system, it will be able
to grow very simply and at very low cost, without major changes to
the infrastructure.
Leadership
The Cisco Unified Communications solution gives OSEO much
greater business flexibility and productivity through its advanced
functions. The system represents an intangible benefit of great
importance to the organization. The adoption of advanced
technology positions OSEO as a thought leader and demonstrates
to its clients that it shares their vision.
“It is our mission to foster innovation,” states Xavier de Broca. “So
it is in our best interest to display innovation ourselves. We should
be leading by example in every way possible. Needless to say, a
15-year-old, overly complicated telephone system that hampered
our effectiveness was not sending the right message. Now, we are
displaying the kind of sophistication and advanced thinking we hope
to encourage in our clients.”
Formoreinformation
To find out more about Cisco Unified Communications go to:
www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcommunications
To find out more about the Cisco and IBM alliance go to: