UniComm Consulting is honored to have served major firms in many industries.
UniComm Consulting was retained by a large Canadian bank to evaluate the requirements for the bank’s Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) roadmap, while considering the bank’s investments in Cisco, Microsoft, and IBM platforms. Applying our interview-based discovery process, we categorized employees into eight usage profiles and matched the technologies to the usage profile requirements. The resulting roadmap has the potential to reduce the original budgeted technology acquisition costs by approximately 30%, while improving customer service and streamlining business processes.
A large Canadian insurance company retained UniComm Consulting to assist the IT Architecture Office in defining an optimal roadmap for delivering UC&C services to the employees in the divisions and lines of business in the enterprise. By evaluating the company’s user classes, we identified the communications-enabled portal as the optimal technology approach. It provided employees with a single user interface, and utilized the company’s existing investments in e-mail, voice telephony, and room-based video conferencing. Employees have greater functionality, including integration to business processes. TCO was reduced by up to 20%, accelerating the time-to-benefit for optimal ROI.
UniComm Consulting worked with a mid-west insurance company to identify and map the communications content of their most important workflows. We used the map to match new UC technologies to specific improvements in those workflows. Some UC tools were tailored to meet the needs of the field representatives – brokers, agents, and adjusters. Others were implemented specifically for the back-office teams – underwriting, claims, and operations. Bottom-line increase opportunities came from reduced costs for technology and operations, and from expected improvements in customer services and revenue growth.
“The founders of UniComm Consulting are clearly leaders in Unified Communications. They have consistently provided thought leadership and expertise on UC topics that are relevant to my enterprise’s needs. The processes they provide for identifying Unified Communications opportunities were very effective for our firm, supporting our actions in Unified Communications.”
~ Noted Financial Services industry executive and internal UC evangelist
A regional University Health Care Center chose UniComm Consulting to work with them to characterize the communication requirements of the major care delivery workflows. We identified six major employee usage profiles. We mapped technology to these requirements and defined a roadmap that delivered the targeted benefits through application of the hospital’s existing technology licensing and skills. The hospital proceeded with an upgrade of their existing PBX to an IP-PBX in the background as required and as affordable, but the upgrade was not a pre-requisite to the UC&C roadmap implementation.
UniComm Consulting worked with the IT Architecture Director and the CMO of a large children’s hospital. The major opportunities for improving care with UC&C technologies became the basis for the communications systems RFP for a new hospital tower with more than 300 beds. The hospital acquired a new IP-PBX and new UC&C applications, including the additional technologies and professional services, for less than the planned communications portion of the capital budget. The project resulted in significant care efficiencies.
Faced with a major investment to replace their PBX due to a new hospital tower construction project, a regional Medical Center retained UniComm Consulting to assist in defining their UC technology architecture and roadmap. By focusing on interoperation of the new technologies with the existing PBX, we helped them define a roadmap for upgrading, rather than replacing the existing PBX. The result was a multi-million dollar capital savings, and the Center was able to deliver more UC&C benefits across the inpatient and outpatient departments than they envisioned prior to the UniComm Consulting engagement.
A major US railway company was facing a major RFP process to consolidate their three brands of PBX systems. They engaged UniComm Consulting to advise them about the options available for PBX replacement. We assisted them in defining five major usage profiles, each with differing voice and UC communications requirements. The company selected two communication platforms: a traditional IP-PBX and contact center configuration for traditional voice-based users, and an innovative UC configuration for the document- and information- centric users. The result was a significant reduction in capital outlay and a 67% reduction in maintenance costs for the UC users.
UniComm Consulting was retained by a large, multi-site law firm to define the communications flows in the firm and identify the areas where UC&C technologies could improve operations while containing or lowering costs. These requirements were converted into an RFP for upgrade or replacement of their existing aging phone system. The result was a hybrid solution, which replaced the existing PBX with an IP-PBX from a leading vendor with lower TCO, and addressed document-centric workflows with a UC&C platform designed for that purpose from a different leading vendor. The firm realized benefits beyond their initial expectations while remaining within their TCO budget.
A leading private university was faced with end-of-support situations for their traditional voice mail system and their Centrex services. The planning team engaged UniComm Consulting to assist in optimizing the investment roadmap to include UC&C capabilities and to serve a new research-oriented sub-campus. We interviewed academic, administrative, and technology managers from the larger schools and from the core services team. We used scenario planning to determine the most significant variables, which were mobility support and the integration of communications functionality into both academic and administrative software applications. We used analytics to demonstrate that the voice mail system and even the voice Centrex service had low utilization and should not drive the roadmap planning. Campus communications are now evolving as forecasted by the UC&C roadmap plan.
A large state university that faced an end-of-support decision for their existing PBX engaged UniComm Consulting and our affiliate, KelCor Inc., to analyze the options of premise, cloud or hybrid solutions for their future needs. By categorizing the requirements into usage profiles, we saw that the best initial step was an upgrade of the existing PBX. Our negotiations with the incumbent vendor revised the maintenance contract to include the upgrade costs. This freed up capital budgets to fund the gradual, four-year migration to the targeted UC&C solution in support of improved academic and administrative communication workflows.
A global petroleum products firm had completed several acquisitions and required a competitive bid for consolidating their three PBX brands into a long-term roadmap. UniComm Consulting worked with them to define the requirements based on five usage profiles. This enabled a very precise competitive bidding process that resulted in significant savings. The final agreement included global support coverage and integration of the Company’s preferred desktop IM and Presence system with the hybrid TDM/IP PBX and unified messaging systems. Through the ongoing life of the system, UniComm continues to assist them in maintenance contract renewals, which has produced additional savings while improving the vendor’s SLAs.
UniComm Consulting worked with a US distribution company for a major Japanese high-technology manufacturer that needed to replace their aging PBX. Their strategy team saw that communications was important to other major initiatives for international travel, improved client services, and more efficient order administration and operations. We applied our interviewing methodology to identify very specific categories for investments. The company was able to implement optimal solutions for mobile field representatives and international travelers; for order administration and billing; and for operational support teams. Back office voice communications were delivered by an economical open-source solution, while customer-facing staff benefited from innovative UC&C technologies. TCO was reduced, even compared to the legacy TDM PBX.
A global engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance firm was pursuing two major business initiatives: drive up firm competiveness and increase remote working to approximately 40% of the workforce. They believed that this could be done with a well-designed UC roadmap, and they engaged UniComm Consulting to assist them. Our interviews and analysis revealed that two of the five main user profiles did not require traditional desktop telephone service. We also found that a communications-enabled portal approach could deliver secure communications, including video and social networking, to the employees on their preferred devices. The resulting roadmap exceeded the expectations for business improvements with a TCO that was 40% lower than expected.
“Marty and Don really bring value in their consulting services. When asked to look at customer services, they brought a broader, Unified Communications viewpoint that opened up many new possibilities for business improvement. They bring highly informed and creative thinking and do it in a way that effectively leverages the resources of their client, and makes sure that the client ‘owns’ the solution. I look forward to working with them in the future.”
~ Paul De Sousa, Global Director, Customer Service, Johns Manville