Case Study: Leading Educational Charity

About The Customer

This leading charity provider for education consolidated its network of UK offices by deploying an  innovative and bespoke unified communications (UC) solution  from Wavenet. The project also saves the charity £20,000 per year in direct costs.  

The Challenge

After making the decision to relocate its headquarters, the customer sought a cloud-based  solution that could be tailored to fit its exact requirements. The platform  not only needed to boost workforce connectivity within its office,  but would also allow the charity to benefit from a truly joined-up  approach to communications across its eight additional UK offices. Being  dedicated users of Office 365, the charity also needed a UC platform that  integrated seamlessly with the Microsoft suite of applications. 

The Solution 

After contacting Wavenet to explore  the possibility of replacing a number  of different conventional phone  systems across multiple locations with a single cohesive solution.  

Following  initial discussions, the charity  conducted a site visit of an existing Skype for Business customer with  a bespoke call routing solution. This prompted them  to carry out a month-long trial at one of it's offices, before rolling  out Skype for Business with Wavenet across each of its nine  locations. 

Wavenet’s cloud-based Skype  for Business platform replaces the need to have  a traditional phone network. This  helps the workforce to stay  continuously connected and reac able  even when working remotely. All users  have ‘dial in and out conferencing’ and  Direct Dial In (DDI) numbers, whilst  the platform’s advanced call routing application ensures callers are always directed to  the most suitable department. 

The customer saved approximately  £20,000 per annum on direct costs, including service charges, maintaining  equipment and call costs. The charity also makes significant indirect cost  savings due to efficiency gains  triggered by hot desking, the ability for  staff to communicate better when  working remotely, reduced travel,  enhanced video conferencing, and  greater overall workforce  collaboration. 

Employees use Jabra Evolve 65  headsets whilst the organisation also  installed 40 Polycom Trio 8800s, the  certified Skype for Business  conference phone, for its meeting  rooms and open office areas. 

"We required a solution that would allow us to modernise our telephony infrastructure, whilst benefitting from a joined-up approach to communications across our nine offices. We noticed that employee communications improved, especially between different offices. These efficiency gains will lead to both direct and indirect cost savings, allowing us to focus on our vision of a day when no child’s educational success is limited by their socio-economic background."

With Skype for Business set to retire on July 31st 2021 businesses will now look to make the migration to Microsoft Teams.

This upgrade also gives them the ability to utilise TeamsLink and create a true Unified Communication platform that allows easy collaboration and communication across organisations of all sizes.