Nationwide chemist Lloydspharmacy wanted to give its employees more flexible voice communications – to increase their productivity while supporting ongoing growth and the demands it placed on the company’s IT systems.
‘We were particularly interested in extending our use of voicemail,’ explains Malcolm Howells, Network Manager at Lloydspharmacy. ‘And this, combined with our experience of using Microsoft Exchange, made unified messaging a logical next step.’
BT suggested that Lloydspharmacy pilot Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, providing them with a useful opportunity to participate in a controlled assessment.
Easy installation and more flexibility
The 12-week pilot involved 25 employees from the Lloydspharmacy IT department including Malcolm Howells and Technology Manager, Andy Williamson.
Employees were given the flexibility to access their voicemail, whether they were on the road, in their office or at home. BT installed the infrastructure necessary to support the pilot alongside the Lloydspharmacy network while minimising the risk to the company’s critical business data. The Nortel Meridian 1 PBX was also reconfigured out of hours to avoid any disruption to business. Says Howells, ‘The process went very smoothly and the way BT handled the project is a feather in their cap.’
Access anywhere boosts your control
The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 offers ‘access anywhere’ unified messaging, email and calendar features through the same Microsoft Outlook 2007 inbox. It boosts efficiency by letting staff receive voice messages and faxes alongside emails in their Office Outlook 2007 inboxes.
‘The server gives people more control to manage calls,’ says Howells. An automated attendant answers and routes calls. Users can issue commands through touchtone menus or by speech recognition, which means they can listen to voice messages, hear email (translated to speech), hear and act on calendar information and call contacts, all using remote access from any phone.
The Microsoft solution provides information about each voicemail – caller ID helps users make decisions about which messages to play immediately and how to prioritise them. For instance, if they need privacy, users can send a voicemail to a phone instead of playing it over a loudspeaker on the PC. The system also lets users know if callers don’t leave messages, so calls are never missed.
Ease of use means greater productivity
Lloydspharmacy felt that the useful features and ease of management made the pilot a success. Participants also found the interface very intuitive and agreed that non-technical staff would find it easy to use. ‘Even in a relatively small trial, we found that unified messaging gave us the flexibility to work more productively,’ points out Lloydspharmacy’s Williamson. Lloydspharmacy is currently considering introducing unified messaging.
‘The interface also brought a level of consistency to our communications that we haven’t had before, and that saved valuable time for key employees,’ adds Williamson. ‘The solution works, and it works well.’
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