Mott MacDonald, an engineering and development consultancy with offices around Ireland, has implemented a software-based IP telephony system to save on administration and telecoms costs.
The firm, which worked on such high-profile projects as the Luas tram system in Dublin and the Dundalk western bypass, recently relocated its offices and used the move to update its voice systems. Through the IT provider MJ Flood Technology, the company deployed a software-based IP telephony based on TeleVantage from Vertical Communications.
With the software, calls and messages can be managed from a standard PC. Adds, moves and changes to staff telephones had been costly but they can now be performed in-house using a simple, web-based graphical interface.
The traditional PBX console at the company’s reception has been replaced by a standard PC and calls are directed to recipients using TeleVantage ViewPoint point-and-click features. Mott MacDonald did not have to replace its older analogue telephone handsets as they are compatible with the TeleVantage system.
As a project-based business, the engineering firm needs to log every outgoing call against a project for billing purposes. With TeleVantage, employees enter 9 to activate the dial-tone followed by the project code. “This allows staff to run a report at the end of the month providing customers with complete transparency on billing, literally at the press of a button,” said Eoin Mulligan, area sales director for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) with Vertical Communications.
TeleVantage can be extended to all branch offices across a multi-protocol label switching network in time, eliminating inter-office telecommunications costs and streamlining the contact experience for all of Mott MacDonald’s staff, customers and suppliers.
Outlining the reasons for choosing TeleVantage, Val Farrell, IT manager with Mott MacDonald, said: “Our main objectives were to source a solution which could scale with our business growth, accommodate unpredictable movement of staff throughout the company and offer customers easy access to key personnel.”
By Gordon Smith
