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Contents 
Introduction
Servcorp
Ausmelt
Suncorp
How to be an innovator
Executive Summary |
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In particular, the company was looking for ways to provide its clients with a competitive advantage from the best communications services, and to gain full control over the management of its communications, which wasn't possible with the traditional PABXs. In fact, the incumbent suppliers' reluctance to provide all the information Servcorp required -- the company handles its own installation and development work -- was the reason it started looking further afield.
| "We worked on it for two years to get it right." |
Because of this, Servcorp likes to get in early and do its own development work. Standard enterprise systems are not appropriate for Servcorp's multi-tenanted premises where each line must be answered in the appropriate client's name, for example. Moufarrige says Cisco provided excellent support, and Servcorp ended up with "a really futuristic multi-tenant environment telephony product."
On average, clients have 14-month leases with Servcorp. They are typically branch offices of multinational companies, but other 1-10 person business are also represented. Flexibility is consequently important, and that's what IP telephony provides. Receptionists are presented with the information needed to answer incoming calls correctly, and then they can stack and distribute them to extensions or voicemail, or to mobile or home office numbers. Work is underway on the development of a system that will allow clients to control the follow-me and call diversion features for themselves, along with other aspects such as the way the receptionist answers the phone. This should be operational by March 2005.
Moves and changes are far easier than with a conventional phone system, and the company manages all the IP phone systems from Sydney, including integration with an in-house client management and billing application.
"The management of this is so much easier than anything we've seen before," he says.
| "On every point, we've had success -- some things faster than others. I'm sure we made the right decision." |
"On every point, we've had success -- some things faster than others," he says. "I'm sure we made the right decision."
While much of the attention given to VoIP focuses on cost savings compared with traditional carriers, Servcorp's focus was on management. Most outbound calls are still made over the PSTN, although the company now offers tenants in multiple Servcorp locations the option of fixed-price inter-office calls. Moufarrige says fixed line call costs have fallen substantially, and it costs just as much to set up for notionally "free" calls. The total cost of ownership for phone and broadband hasn't changed much, he says, it's just that the costs have shifted between categories. "The major telcos have a lot more control than people think," he says.
3%
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