Beaumont Business Centres
Case Study

"The Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises has ensured that our clients have the high reliability and modularity they require to conduct their businesses successfully. Avaya Aura™ System Platform virtualization technology enables us to meet the needs of every client without operating an entire ‘server farm.’ It is helping us maintain our solid reputation as a business centre partner of choice in the UK by making it possible for us to provide an extremely wide range of state-of-the-art communications capabilities that can be deployed quickly, without extensive administration and maintenance."
Christine Walcher, Centre Manager

Challenge

Beaumont prides itself on providing attention to detail and personal service that enable its clients’ businesses to operate as efficiently as possible. All the services that any commercial organisation might need must be available on-site, including 24-hour secure access, high-speed broadband, video conferencing, and access to a reliable digital telephone system.

For their state-of-the art location at Snow Hill, Beaumont’s management team wanted to implement a flexible, modular, reliable, and full-featured telephony solution that would meet the needs and expectations of all their clients. They examined a number of options, including hosted telephony. However, because a hosted system would not give Beaumont enough control of connectivity, having its own installed system was deemed an essential part of the solution.

Flexibility, simplicity, and ease of management were considered vitally important, because Beaumont needed to be able to set up new users quickly and customize the services provided for each client. They wanted the solution to be feature-rich and cost-efficient to administer, with a minimum amount of hardware.

Solution

Working with Centrix, an Avaya Authorised Business Partner, the firm’s management team decided to deploy an Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises. This solution was chosen for its reliability, scalability, flexibility, modularity, and wide range of available features, as well as for its ease of management and overall simplicity.

A comprehensive, virtualised solution

Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises is enabled with Avaya Aura™ System Platform virtualization technology to combine the following applications into a single server: Avaya Aura™ Communication Manager, Applications Enablement, SIP services, Voice Messaging, Media Services, Communication Manager Call Center capabilities, and end-user/ administrator utilities. Advanced applications can easily be added, including mobility, telecommuter, and desktop clients with Avaya one-X® Unified Communications all-inclusive offer; Unified Messaging for voice and integrated e-mail (with Modular Messaging); Multi-Media Contact Center (for midsize enterprises with Avaya Contact Center Express); and many applications using SIP and Application Enablement Services.

Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises supports up to 2400 users, so it provides plenty of room for Beaumont to add capacity as needed. Setting up new lines and connections is very easy, so Beaumont can assure new customers that it can get them up and running straight away. The flexibility of the Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises means that Beaumont can accommodate requirements for Voice over IP (VoIP), as well as traditional ISDN.

Mobility

Key features of Beaumont’s communications solution provide customers with important business benefits. For example, Extension to Cellular enables users to have incoming calls on their direct dial numbers ring simultaneously on their cellular phones, allowing them to answer wherever they choose.

Calls answered on the mobile can even be transferred back to another extension user, because most of the functional features of Avaya Communication Manager are available to a mobile user.

My Phone and Follow Me self-service tools enable end users to tailor their phone functions to their own needs—setting up quick-dial numbers and security codes, and even changing the display language. The Follow Me function enables users to redirect calls to their direct dial line, to a walk-about IP handset, or to their mobile. These features can be accessed and changed over the Web, giving users added flexibility.

Telephony Computer Integration

Beaumont has also deployed Avaya one-X® Communicator, which can be used with an appropriate handset or headset to provide a desktop PC or laptop with the functionality of an IP telephone. Integration with Microsoft Outlook enables users to make calls simply by clicking a number in their contacts list and, when a contact calls in, to have information on the caller displayed on the screen automatically. Users can log onto their system anywhere there is Internet access and can work remotely as if they were at their own desks.

In addition, Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises provides a wide range of functionality that most business would want to use as a matter of course, including voicemail, Auto Attendant, and detailed call reporting and analysis tools.

Value Created

Beaumont’s Snow Hill Business Centre opened its doors in July 2008 and quickly attracted a number of tenants. By mid-2009 about 20 companies are located in the building. The Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises has worked faultlessly, requiring only routine maintenance and servicing from the Avaya Authorised BusinessPartner.

Reliable operation. Christine Walcher, Centre Manager, commented, “We chose Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises because we wanted a telephony solution that would be absolutely reliable. Reliability was always going to be key, as our clients are highly dependent on the technology and systems we provide for them. They need to know—and we need to know—that the systems will provide faultless, 24-7 service.” Beaumont Business Centres has been able to ensure availability of state-of-the-art telephony services to all clients occupying space at Snow Hill on a short or long-term basis. There is a high availability option with automated backup server and secure remote support.

Attractive features add more value. Advanced features such as Extension to Cellular, Avaya one-X® Communicator, and My Phone provide functionality that delivers additional benefits to customers, making the Snow Hill location even more attractive to prospective customers. “Companies that make use of business centres tend to be sophisticated users of technology. The IP and desktop integration features available with the Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises provide strong value by helping us to make the centre even more appealing for prospective clients,” Walcher explained.

Efficiencies in total cost of ownership. From the administrative perspective, the Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises provides the benefits of less hardware, less time required for system maintenance, and integrated services for administrators.

Scalable, modular system, deployed with speed and simplicity. When new tenants move into Snow Hill, telephony systems can be set up and configured on a modular basis for them quickly and easily. With up to 2400 users supported, the system provides more than adequate levels of scalability. Walcher concluded, “The ease with which the system can be scaled up as more businesses move into Snow Hill has also proved very beneficial for Beaumont Business Centres. We have expanded the system as we have added clients, and the advanced features of Avaya Aura™ solution for Midsize Enterprises help us to do that.”

Learn More

For more information on how Avaya Intelligent Communications can take your enterprise from where it is to where it needs to be, contact your Avaya Client Executive or a member of the Avaya Authorised BusinessPartner program, or visit “Do Your Research” at:

> www.avaya.com

About Beaumont Business Centres

Beaumont Business Centres, located at Snow Hill in London, UK, provides full-service executive offices for companies that need exemplary professional accommodation on a short- or long-term basis. The office suites, conference rooms, and other facilities at Snow Hill are designed to accommodate all sizes of business, from large established firms to individuals who are just starting out on their own. Many of Beaumont’s clients work in the financial, legal, and media communities—all of which require the highest standard of communications technology 24/7, in customised configurations that suit each business best. For more information, visit:

> www.beaumont-uk.com

About Centrix

Centrix offers a comprehensive range of voice and data solutions and services, tailored to its customers’ needs. Established since 1997, the company is recognised as one of the leading converged resellers in the UK. It offers exceptional breadth of knowledge and expertise in key disciplines including VoIP, SIP, wireless, security, and mobility. To learn more:

> Contact Centrix

All comments in this case study were made by Christine Walcher, Centre Manager.

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