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Charles Stanley Case Study

Charles Stanley is one of the UK's leading independently owned, full-service stock broking and investment management groups, advising on substantial client funds. As a member of the London Stock Exchange since 1852, Charles Stanley has grown to become one of the most respected UK firms in the field, consistently winning industry praise for its high level of service. Headquartered in the heart of London's finance sector, Charles Stanley has over 30 regional offices across the UK and employs some 600 staff.

Over the years the firm has grown through acquisition and as a consequence has acquired a variety of disparate and outdated communications systems. It was clear that Charles Stanley needed to standardise and upgrade its network. This would benefit its clients, increase business efficiency and reduce support costs as well as helping to meet FSA regulations and support business growth.

STREAMLINING THE BUSINESS

ONI designed and implemented a centrally managed Cisco unified communications system across regional offices and 400 staff at Head Office. This instantly streamlined business processes and reduced regional support issues. It provided staff with unified messaging for voicemail, email and faxes into one mailbox for easy access. This also gave the ability to broadcast messages to all IP phones using Berbee's Informcast application, easy-to-use video telephony and extension mobility, whereby staff can log onto their own phone extension from any Cisco IP phone or softphone within the company network. This proved invaluable during the 7/7 incident where key people were able to travel to the disaster recovery facility outside London with their IP phones and continue trading immediately.

SIMPLIFYING COMPLIANCE

Call recording and call monitoring/management capabilities are vital for compliance FSA regulations. The updated call management system saves and indexes all calls electronically, making it easy to locate specific conversations for settling trading disputes.

ONI has also developed a bespoke application to provide a visual one-click speed dialling solution which allows up to 40 speed dials for the broker dealer board systems. This application is to be implemented when the trading floor moves to new offices in London.

TRADING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The technology has increased the productivity and effectiveness of employees and has also given Charles Stanley a communications platform for the future that will be able to grow in line with the business. Additional collaboration tools including Presence, Personal Communicator, mobility services and video conferencing have been added further enhancing the user experience.

"Our brokers liked the old 'key and lamp' phones and one of the features of this new system enables us to recreate that. The mobility features are also attractive, particularly the dual-mode handsets and single number reach. ONI's experience in this area has been invaluable and is real a tribute to the skills of their engineering team."