When you are a small accounting practice, the last thing you need is to be held back by poor technology. But for Wellington accounting partnership Munro Benge BKR, its dated PABX was doing just that.

There were maintenance headaches, call quality was poor, and the receptionist had to stay within a short distance of the company’s front desk to manage inbound calls. Making matters worse, its 12 year-old analogue PABX did not provide any scope for improvement - even the adoption of DDI (direct dialing in) was out of the question. Now using Avaya IP Office, implemented by Avaya’s New Zealand solutions partner Fujitsu, Munro Benge has opened up a whole new world of communications, at a cost less than the firm expected.

Sole office
For many businesses, adopting VoIP is enticing for the inter-office call savings it offers, by using the internet to send calls as packets of data, rather than via circuit switching of the public phone network.

However, for Munro Benge and its sole Wellington CBD office of 12 staff, there weren’t plans to open other offices or a huge volume of inbound calls that needed fielding. In fact, there wasn’t even a specific interest in installing a converged voice and data solution. The main motivation for upgrading its increasingly frail PABX was to eliminate functional shortcomings, introduce DDI, and, in so doing, reduce the load on reception. As is the case with so many small businesses, the Munro Benge receptionist was required to take on a broad range of tasks, which often took her away from the front desk. In her absence, professional staff were often required to take calls and distribute messages.

Munro Benge practice manager Christine Gibb says the situation was distracting and hindered productivity. “All our calls were coming through the front desk number, which tied up reception. We wanted to provide customers with DDI access to our accounting staff, which would make it easier for reception and eliminate the burden on professional staff.” In this regard, cordless technology was seen as a key requirement, providing reception with the flexibility to fulfill the front desk function, from anywhere in the office.

Tight budget
With a budget reflecting its SME profile, Munro Benge had for years been informally evaluating different PABX systems. Its lingering concern was that its budget wouldn’t allow it to get all the features it wanted. However, when its long term IT infrastructure and services provider Fujitsu demonstrated Avaya IP Office, Munro Benge was immediately convinced that an IP Telephony system offered many real advantages, despite the firm’s basic requirements. “Even though we are a small firm, with no branches, we could still see the advantages of using VoIP,” says Gibb.

Scalable from just two up to 360 extensions, Avaya IP Office is a modular, server-based PBX system. A single unit offers advanced voice communications capabilities, including PBX features, such as caller ID, call forwarding, conference calling and advance routing. Tightly integrated with Microsoft Outlook and CRM, one of the immediate possibilities is the creation of both hard (desktop) and soft (computer-based) phones, and the ability to manage both voice and email messages via an Outlook client. From the very beginning Munro Benge put intelligent DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) into the hands of its receptionist. DECT works by digitally transmitting radio signals between a cordless phone and a base station in the Avaya appliance, providing mobility without any loss of functionality. So, from anywhere in the office, the receptionist is able to manage calls in the normal fashion.

Up and running
The real beauty of IP Telephony is that the phone system directly attaches to the existing data network. So, from the start, Munro Benge was ahead of the game on costs because it was able to bed down the Avaya system very quickly – within a matter of days in fact – and cheaply; there was no need to roll out any extra cabling. Even powering the phones was achieved through the network cable, rather than a standard electrical socket. Munro Benge now only deals with a single technology supplier, Fujitsu, for both voice and data. Specialist PABX support is a thing of the past.

DDI access has diminished the number of inbound calls through reception. This simple advancement, coupled with DECT mobility, has helped to reduce telephone tag and the incidence of professional staff having to deal with inbound calls and message taking. The unified messaging environment has also proven to be extremely useful, particularly the ability to access voice messages through Outlook. However, Gibb says it will take more time for staff to gain the full benefits of call functionality, also available through Outlook, because it takes time to change a lifetime of reaching for the desk phone. “Because email and web are so widespread, VoIP is not any more unusual. We’ll get better at using the soft phone features as time goes by.”

Support for the Avaya software call platform is managed by Fujitsu, which, includes changes and additions, such as new extensions, is covered by a modest support fee. “We have a great long term relationship with Fujitsu. Though we’re still yet to grow into the many benefits available through VoIP, the time was certainly right to do it. And they’ve shown an immense interest in our adoption of this technology,” says Gibb.

For more information
Fujitsu
www.fujitsu.co.nz
+64 9 539 4840

July 2006