Accounting Firm Cuts Costs, Increases Revenues with Unified Communications

• Saves U.S.$30,000 over traditional PBX phone system
• Captures more billable time, leading to one-year return on investment
• Achieves greater employee efficiency

Business Challenge

A Minneapolis accounting firm has built a strong reputation in the metropolitan region by providing customers with services that include tax preparation and planning, audits, and management consulting. The firm has been in business for decades and works with companies in virtually every industry and of all sizes, from small family businesses to large corporations.

Part of the company’s success results from its own diligence in carefully managing internal operating costs and continually looking for ways to improve revenue, including the efficient capture of employees’ billable time. In late 2008, the firm started evaluating its options for replacing an aging phone system—and, in the process, realized that it had an opportunity to capture more billable time.

“Our phone system dated back to 1992, and it was beginning to fail,” says the firm’s IT manager. “After experiencing two outages, we became concerned about continuing with the system, especially because we could no longer purchase replacement parts.”

The company began evaluating its options. One alternative to simply updating to a new Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system was installing a voice over IP (VoIP) solution that could unify the firm’s communications.

“Whatever we purchased, we knew we would have it for many years,” says the IT manager. “A new PBX system would be quite expensive without offering much flexibility, while a unified communications solution could help us integrate functions like voice mail, email, and phone calls from our PCs.”

While evaluating the possibilities for a new phone system, the firm also looked for some type of solution that could help employees track their billable hours more effectively. “During the course of the day, it’s easy, for example, to take phone calls from clients but forget to document them,” the IT manager says. “Even only a few minutes a day adds up over the course of a year to lost revenue.”

CEBP Solution

Following discussions with Convergent, a Microsoft Gold Certified UC and Voice Partner, the accounting firm decided to deploy a communications-enabled business process solution using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 client software. The IT manager says the solution was a natural fit for the firm—it already uses Microsoft products, including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, the Microsoft Office 2003 Editions, and the Windows XP client operating system. The firm plans to upgrade to Microsoft Office Professional 2010 and the Windows 7 operating system by the end of 2010.

“Products from Cisco Systems were one obvious choice, but they had a significant drawback for the firm:they are really expensive,” says the IT manager.

The choice was also driven by TimeSweeper, a solution from Convergent that integrates with the Microsoft Unified Communications products to efficiently capture many different types of communications that can be converted into billable time. TimeSweeper gives the accounting firm’s employees a simple, calendar-based view of how much time is spent in activities such as phone calls, conference calls and web-based conferencing, instant messages, and email and voice-mail reviews. With TimeSweeper, users can select single or multiple days and apply filters to sort through different types of communications. After the employee selects an entry, TimeSweeper uses Exchange Web Services to extract information about the date, duration, and activity type. This data is then sent automatically to the firm’s client billing system.

The firm also installed ESTOS PhoneTools for Communicator, which employees can use to highlight any phone number within a Windows application—including their Microsoft Office software or web browser. They can then press a hot key on their keyboard to dial the number.

The firm began implementing the solution in July 2009 and completed the deployment in September 2009. It completely replaced its PBX system, so all communications are now handled with the Microsoft products. To make and receive phone calls, the firm’s employees use several different IP telephony hardware products. These include the Polycom CX700, a full-featured desktop phone that plugs directly into the firm’s network; the Polycom CX200, a smaller desktop phone with more-limited features; and the Plantronics Savi Go, a USB headset that plugs into users’ PCs. All voice mail goes into Exchange Server 2007. Users receive notifications of voice-mail messages in the Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 messaging and collaboration client, and they can listen to their messages by simply clicking the message icon.

ROI

By choosing to implement a Microsoft Unified Communications solution that includes the TimeSweeper application from Convergent, the accounting firm was able to achieve significant cost savings and increase its revenue. The firm saved money in both immediate and long-term expenses by deploying an IP-based communications solution instead of a traditional PBX system. It also is capturing more billable time because of the TimeSweeper application. In addition, employees can work more efficiently because of the tight integration of the communications tools.

Saves U.S.$30,000 over PBX System

The deployment of the Microsoft Unified Communications solution led to immediate cost savings for the firm, as well as long-term savings.

“We estimate that we achieved an immediate savings of about $30,000 by installing the Microsoft Unified Communications solution instead of a competing product,” says the IT manager. “Additionally, there is a substantial savings associated with the Microsoft conferencing capabilities, including the easy telephone-based conferencing and Microsoft Office Live Meeting. A Cisco solution would have required a WebEx contract for our conferencing needs, with an annual fee of about $20,000. Microsoft includes this functionality as part of its solution, which means we can eliminate an expensive and ongoing annual cost.”

Captures More Billable Time, Leading to an Expected One-Year ROI

With the innovative Convergent TimeSweeper application integrated into its Microsoft Unified Communications solution, the accounting firm is able to capture more of its billable time. This, in turn, is helping to achieve a quick return on investment in the new technology.

“With the Convergent TimeSweeper software and its integration with the Microsoft technology, I am seeing between 30 and 60 minutes of additional billable time captured each week,” says the IT manager. “That doesn’t sound like a lot at first, but when you multiply it by every employee over the course of a year, the increased revenue is substantial. We expect that in the first year of using the Microsoft Unified Communications solution, the increased revenues will cover the cost of the technology.”

Achieves Greater Employee Efficiency

Deploying the Unified Communications solution has delivered a benefit that was not obvious when the firm was evaluating its options: greater overall efficiency. “It is simply easier to do common tasks all day long,” says the IT manager. “In the past, the process of looking up a phone number and then going to the phone to dial would typically take about 30 seconds, and if you’re interrupted by someone, you start all over again. With the Microsoft Unified Communications solution, I can simply right-click a number and dial it. It’s almost instantaneous. Throughout the day, that time savings of 30 seconds or more per call really adds up. The Microsoft technology makes our employee communications faster and more efficient—and it is more cost-effective to deploy and maintain over the long run.”

Microsoft CEBP

Communications-enabled business processes (CEBP) based on the Microsoft Unified Communications platform offer businesses three ways to increase productivity:

• Contextual collaboration. Helps users communicate efficiently by providing context about their communications.
• Business Process Communications. Reduces human delay in businesses processes by integrating communications in business processes, so decision makers will be contacted when they’re needed.
• Anywhere-access capabilities. Users can interact with computers via natural speech, using the telephone or IM in a fully automated way.

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