Charles Stanley Stockbrokers has
cut the cost of business calls and prepared for new financial
legislation after implementing a converged data network managed
with unified communications software across 30 sites.
It is using a Cisco suite of communication products to support
the network, enabling presence-based information across both fixed
desk phones and mobile devices, such as Blackberries. It also
integrates with desktop environments.
Unifying the network with presence will also help the company to
comply with the forthcoming Markets in Financial Instruments
Directive (Mifid), which is likely to require investment firms to
make recordings of calls after November this year. Using the
network, the process of archiving and retrieving call logs can be
automated to extract wav-generated files stored across the
network.
With sites across the UK and more than 800 employees, the
company had been running a mixture of analogue and digital PBXs
from different suppliers, which were expensive to maintain. But the
new network means that even when employees cannot make it into a
branch office, calls can be re-routed through a Cisco server to a
range of devices to ensure service continuity.
"We have reduced our telephony maintenance costs and eliminated
site-to-site call costs across our office branches," said Mark
Smith, ICT manager at Charles Stanley Stockbrokers.
Further down the line, the company hopes to reap customer
management benefits. When a client telephones a broker, the
client's portfolio has to be called up.
"Using caller ID with integrated presence information to the
desktop, details can be brought up automatically, increasing
response time to trades and customers," said Smith.
Charles Stanley is using Cisco's Call Manager 5.1 to use
presence information in its business and is currently trialling
Cisco's Unified Communications system 6.0, which encompasses fixed
and wireless IP phones, conferencing software and a dedicated
messaging server.
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