4-page Case Study - Posted 7/1/2008

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Swisscom

Swisscom Connects Virtual Teams with Unified Communications to Boost Productivity

Despite being Switzerland’s largest telecommunications provider, Swisscom faces about 200 IT integrators as competitors, so it must keep a sharp competitive edge via greater innovation, productivity, and responsiveness. The company wanted to improve collaboration among its employees, who are spread out over many sites and often work in virtual teams. Swisscom has deployed a unified communications pilot based on Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 and Nortel Communication Server 2000. The solution’s presence, messaging, and conferencing capabilities are helping each employee save up to 20 minutes a day. Virtual teams have cut the time needed to create customer proposals by up to 20 percent. Swisscom also expects to reduce costs by eliminating many of its 120 Private Branch Exchange systems and increase revenue by offering the unified communications solution to its own customers.

Situation

With a 150-year history as Switzerland’s leading telecommunications provider, Swisscom does not take its legacy for granted. Since giving up a state-sanctioned monopoly status by privatizing in 1998, the 20,000-employee company now faces the challenge to grow in new business areas.

With Office Communications Server 2007, we can invite people to a conference to directly discuss a document and fill in the feedback…. We can produce proposals up to 20 percent faster.  Andreas Arrigoni Head of Collaboration Services Swisscom

Swisscom has sharpened its competitive edge through the use of unified communications. Since 2005, employees have used Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server 2005 to locate colleagues and communicate quickly with presence awareness and instant messaging (IM). However, Swisscom wants to build on that infrastructure. In particular, the company aims to cultivate a growing trend in how Swisscom employees work: virtual teams.

Swisscom employees are spread across 300 sites, and employees from different groups often collaborate in virtual teams. For example, a proposal for a large business customer requires specialists in design, architecture, engineering, and sales. Until recently, virtual teams have collaborated on proposals by sending drafts in e-mail, but that process was inefficient.

“A proposal can take 10 iterations as it moves around the team,” says Andreas Arrigoni, Head of Collaboration Services at Swisscom. “Using e-mail alone to get comments or revisions can take two to three days, and even more time is needed if we have to set up face-to-face meetings to work out especially complex issues.”

Several proposals can be in progress at the same time, with each virtual team comprising different individuals. “For example, today you’re working for Customer A, but tomorrow you’re working for Customer B and your team is different,” says Arrigoni. “People have to change their roles every day―or even every hour. That’s not easy if they don’t have the right communications tools.” 

Swisscom wanted to help its employees collaborate more efficiently so they could save time and improve customer service. The company also wanted a solution that it could extend to its customer base.

Solution

Swisscom decided to deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition and Nortel Communication Server 2000 as part of a pilot project. The solution would integrate well with the Microsoft software already in use at the company. It also offered software-powered voice over IP (VoIP), which Swisscom was interested in extending to its own customers. In addition, Swisscom determined it could simplify deployment and system management with the integrated end-to-end approach provided by the Innovative Communications Alliance between Microsoft and Nortel.

The alliance dates back to mid-2006 and builds on each company’s complementary strengths: Microsoft unified communications software and Nortel telephony, networking, and business applications. Through the alliance, the companies deliver joint innovation and unified communications solution development. To attract third-party developers who can add even greater value for customers, the alliance also embraces industry standards and open interfaces.

We could see that the Microsoft and Nortel solution is much better integrated given how much the two companies are collaborating through their alliance, much more than other vendors.  Andreas Arrigoni Head of Collaboration Services Swisscom

Swisscom deployed Office Communications Server 2007 to 30 users in October 2007. It expanded the pilot to 270 users across its sales, marketing, and IT teams in early 2008, with a full companywide rollout planned to begin in March 2009.

Office Communications Server 2007 builds on the foundation laid by its predecessor, Live Communications Server 2005. It combines VoIP telephony with richer presence awareness capabilities, multiparty conferencing, and IM―including enhanced support for group IM. In addition, it offers on-premise Web conferences that can include IM, audio, video, application sharing, slide presentations, and other forms of data collaboration.

Swisscom also deployed Nortel Communication Server 2000 as a gateway to the Public Switched Telephone Network. The Nortel product is a carrier-grade VoIP solution with proven high availability and resiliency. A Dialogic DMG4000 media gateway also serves as a direct link to the Integrated Services Digital Network. 

For Swisscom pilot users, all of whom have laptops, the Swisscom IT team distributed Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client software. Its tight integration with the Microsoft Office system, including the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client, meant that users didn’t have to learn a totally new working environment. Still they gained access to all the advanced collaboration and productivity features of Office Communications Server 2007. Swisscom also upgraded to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Messaging, so users could receive and manage voice-mail messages in their Office Outlook 2007 inboxes.

For end devices, the IT team distributed products that are optimized for Office Communicator 2007. These included Jabra GN2000 USB corded headsets that plug right into laptops, avoiding the cost and space requirements of desktop phones. Swisscom also evaluated the performance of LG-Nortel Wireless Headset 8502, which has a range of about 10 meters (33 feet) and works with a PC or any mobile device featuring Bluetooth technology. Users needing wider roaming capabilities received wireless Jabra GN9350 headsets, which offer a 120-meter (390-foot) range. For employees wanting desktop IP phones, Swisscom deployed Polycom CX200 phones. Meeting rooms were equipped with Polycom CX100 speakerphones.

Arrigoni reports that all current users can take advantage of Office Communications Server 2007 to quickly check the availability of other employees and the best method for contacting them. With a click of a button, they can initiate an IM conversation, a phone call, or a video conference. They can also hold Web conferences while sharing presentations and other materials. To enhance this capability, Swisscom deployed eight Microsoft RoundTable™ conferencing and collaboration devices in various conference rooms.

RoundTable delivers an immersive meeting experience to all involved, providing a real-time, 360-degree panoramic video of everyone in a conference room that automatically focuses on the current speaker. Even more, it can record the audio and video of the content, synchronizing it with presentation content, so Swisscom employees can quickly fast-forward or rewind the recording to review the most relevant content.

Eventually, Swisscom plans to extend the collaboration capabilities to its business partners through the federation feature of Office Communications Server 2007. Federation makes it possible for two or more organizations to communicate in real time in an encrypted, authenticated, and managed environment. Swisscom already has federated with partners including Microsoft, Webcall, and Grouptec. “We collaborate with smaller support companies and with engineering companies that we use to help with projects,” Arrigoni says. “Federation with Office Communications Server 2007 can help us include them in meetings as easily as if they were on-site or fellow Swisscom employees.”

Benefits

With the unified communications solution from Microsoft, Swisscom has laid the foundation for increased productivity, greater responsiveness, and new offerings for its business customers. Taken together, these benefits will help Swisscom keep its competitive edge sharp and help ensure its continued market leadership.

Eliminating PBXs is the cost-savings part of this project. We think we can save operational and management costs by simplifying our landscape.  Andreas Arrigoni Head of Collaboration Services Swisscom

Saves up to 20 Minutes a Day Per Employee

Arrigoni estimates that employees are each saving up to 20 minutes a day using the tightly integrated presence, messaging, and conferencing capabilities of Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging. For example, a Swisscom employee working in Office Outlook 2007 can send an instant message directly from an e-mail message. And that employee can quickly escalate to voice or video with a click of a mouse button.

For his own part, Arrigoni enjoys the daily timesavings and at-a-glance control that he gets from unified messaging in particular. “What I really appreciate is that I have control over all my conversations during the day―my instant messaging, my calls, and my voice mail,” he says. “In my Outlook inbox, I can see the unanswered calls and voice mail along with my e-mail.”

Reduces Proposal Cycle Times by up to 20 Percent

By using the unified communications capabilities of Office Communications Server 2007, virtual teams have reduced the time needed to generate customer proposals. This not only lowers the company’s costs of developing proposals but also improves its responsiveness to customer requests, giving it a competitive advantage.

“Before, we would have sent a proposal draft via e-mail to all participants and then waited two or three days for a response,” Arrigoni explains. “Then we would have to get the team back together and make a new version of the document, which then was e-mailed back out for another review. Now we can work more ad hoc. With Office Communications Server 2007, we can invite people to a conference to directly discuss a document and fill in the feedback. Reviews are faster, with big benefits of reduced time and iterations. We can produce proposals up to 20 percent faster.”

Provides Greater Flexibility and Responsiveness

Office Communications Server 2007 streamlines collaboration by making it easier for employees to communicate from wherever they are. Previously, team members who worked at different locations could lose valuable time waiting until everyone was available for an in-person meeting. “It could take three to four weeks to get a meeting,” says Arrigoni. “Now with Office Communications Server 2007 conferencing, we can meet much earlier and avoid the traveling. In a recent survey, almost 50 percent of the users reported a significant reduction in travel between locations.”

The RoundTable devices help make these conferences productive because they provide an experience that is “almost like being there,” says Arrigoni. “With RoundTable and Office Communications Server 2007, I can conference with four people in Zurich, then bring four more from Bern, and they can all see each other, with document sharing, IM, and other features all available.”

Traveling employees can also stay in contact by using Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access, a key component of Office Communications Server 2007. With it, users can securely access unified communications capabilities through a Web browser while outside Swisscom firewalls―without needing a virtual private network. This connectivity-from-anywhere facility makes it possible for employees to contribute their expertise when it is needed, and those faster responses help accelerate business cycle times.

Even if employees are in a meeting or working from home, they can be contacted through instant messaging for a quick reply. “If a colleague is in a meeting and I need brief information so I can make progress in my work,” Arrigoni says, “I can see if he or she is online and, if so, send an instant message with Office Communications Server 2007. And if it’s the evening or weekend, and I can see that colleagues are working, I’ll contact them.”

Reduces Operational Costs and Provides Revenue Opportunities

With the new solution, Arrigoni sees the possibility of eventually retiring many of the company’s 120 Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems. “Eliminating PBXs is the cost- savings part of this project,” he says.

“We think we can save operational and management costs by simplifying our landscape.” He added that the Microsoft and Nortel solution is so well integrated that it will be easier to manage. “And if issues arise,” he says, “we know Microsoft and Nortel will work together to resolve them.”

By using the carrier-grade Nortel Communication Server 2000, Swisscom will be able to connect its entire employee population while leaving plenty of extra capacity for paying customers. Arrigoni says his team is carefully studying the use of Office Communications Server 2007 by Swisscom employees to help it develop offerings for customers.

“From what we learn from our own deployment, we are defining Swisscom offerings based on Office Communications Server 2007 that we can take to our business customers,” he says. “For those who want to introduce unified communications to their businesses, we want to be able to give them all they need―the consulting, products, and services―to really benefit from its many tools. We will offer packages for analyzing users’ communications behavior and for assisting them in changing those behaviors to best adapt to the new communications and collaboration tools.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Swisscom products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.swisscom.com

Microsoft Office System

The Microsoft Office system is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office system, go to:
www.microsoft.com/office  

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Document published June 2008