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Gifford Case Study

Gifford is a world leading independent consultancy of engineers, scientists and specialist advisors, providing structural engineering on new projects and sensitive preservation of older buildings. They are involved in designing and engineering for roads, bridges, private and public buildings, marine projects and commercial developments. They are headquartered in the UK with offices in Asia, the Middle East, the Falkland Islands and Europe covering large scale projects worldwide.

One of the biggest logistical challenges and expenses Gifford faced when they won new projects was being able to quickly set up a local office with the right team in place and having access to sufficiently high bandwidth communications services.  When Gifford went to tender they were looking for a strategic partner that would help them solve this issue as well as help them to reduce their carbon footprint.

VIRTUAL TEAMS SAVE MONEY

ONI designed and delivered a solution that addressed Gifford's challenges using a combination of Cisco's unified communications technology and MPLS from BT. The MPLS network provided the bandwidth required to support access to 3D modelling packages and unified communications technology provided the tools that allowed architects and design engineers to collaborate and work together on projects from any location (virtual teams save money)  whether office based or on the move, anywhere around the world.

Gifford can set up virtual teams quickly and efficiently, pulling together the best skills and experience to work on a project as soon as it is awarded, without the need to travel or the expense of setting up a permanent local office.  Architects can share documents and tasks, have direct access to information and directories and through presence technology they can identify who is available to discuss a project.  Video conferencing is widely used to replace meetings on site or at other offices. Engineers and architects also have soft phones on their laptops allowing them to stay in touch when travelling.  

IMPROVED WORK/LIFE BALANCE

The investment in unified communications has made a major impact on Gifford's business. It has greatly reduced the time and expense involved in taking on a new project - instead of weeks, it now takes days to set up a new team.  The tools have also helped Gifford improve conditions for their staff and retain the skills and expertise they need for their business.  Architects have a better work/life balance. They no longer need to spend time travelling and staying away for long periods in different locations. They can now do the same job at home or from a local office.  A knock-on benefit for Gifford is being able to reduce their impact on the environment by reducing their carbon footprint.   

Having a mobile workforce is very important to Gifford and it's not surprising that Unified Communications is now an integral part of their communications strategy for the future.

"The expertise and the dedication to this project by ONI staff has been very impressive.  They quickly understood the needs of our business and put together a long-term strategy that would help us achieve our aims: to enable virtual teaming and get newly awarded projects up and running more quickly.  Their implementation has greatly improved the way we work together. 
It was also very important to us that we cut down our carbon footprint, and with this we have gone some way in achieving our aims. "