Russells solicitors.
How Netcomms supported them to reach their full potential.
THE CUSTOMER.
Law firm Russells Solicitors are a longstanding customer of Netcomms who are based in London’s West End. Established in 1974, they specialise in media, entertainment and leisure, with clients in various fields including music, sport, publishing, film, TV and theatre.
They’re widely recognised as one of the top law firms and have grown steadily over the years to a team of nearly 70. Their professional, dedicated team can handle many areas of law, from contracts and copyright to family law and wealth management.
EXISTING TECHNOLOGY.
Russells have been a customer of Netcomms since 2006 and we have provided them with business communication solutions and internet connectivity throughout that time. It’s been a pleasure to see them continue to grow.
As well as internet connectivity, Russells were using on-premise communications provided by Netcomms. This meant that the call server was hosted physically within their offices. It was a good solution that lasted them many years and provided more than just telephony.
They also benefitted from unified communications, which allowed video and instant messaging as well as voice. However, the world of work has changed considerably since they became a customer.
CHanging needs in a changing world.
As businesses change, their technology needs change too. This is why to us, every customer is a partner. We work with each client to understand their challenges and use our technological expertise to deliver the best solution for their needs.
From our initial conversations with Russells, it became clear that their communication infrastructure needed to reflect the changes that their business had undergone.
The growth of remote working has transformed in so many sectors, and law is no exception. Once, the office was everything and while visits to clients were common, working from home was not. The pandemic transformed that for Russells, as it did for so many other organisations. This meant that they needed a more flexible communications infrastructure. Their existing communications infrastructure still functioned well, but our conversations revealed a common theme. This was a changing business in a changing world, and we knew we could help.
WORKING WITH THE CUSTOMER.
A lot had changed for Russells, but some things remained the same. In law, client confidentiality is sacred and only highly secure technology is good enough. Any successful law firm has to be highly efficient and communication is key to that. Russells needed to be able to communicate across locations quickly, to avoid workflow issues and maintain the high standards that had enabled them to grow. In short, what Russells needed was a combination of flexibility, efficiency and security. We knew just how to provide it.
COMMUNICATION TO SUPPORT REMOTE WORKING.
Firstly, we recommended upgrading the on-premises communications platform to Ericsson-LG’s iPECS Cloud platform. This offers Russells full unified communications features hosted in the cloud, including voice, video, email and instant messaging.
We also provided iPECS ONE from Ericsson-LG with a Softphone Extension, which runs on the iPECS Cloud platform. This provided almost unlimited flexibility by extending business communications to any device, accessed on the user’s mobile smartphone, or securely via a web browser using Web Real-Time Communication technology (WebRTC).
Regardless of the device used and the user’s location, all they need is an internet connection to stay connected.
Whether they are using the mobile or web application, they have the full functionality of an office phone. They can present their business number when calling outside the organisation, and transfer calls to anyone else in the team.
iPECS ONE Softphone Client also offers a presence setting, which displays everyone’s availability in real time. This makes remote working more efficient because everyone can instantly see who is available for calls. Calls over the iPECS Cloud platform are also encrypted, which meets their need for security.
Russells now have secure, highly flexible and seamless communication across the team, whether people are in the office, at home or on the go meeting clients.
UPGRADED CONNECTIVITY.
In addition to modernised communication, our consultations with Russells revealed a need for upgraded internet connectivity. Although they already had a fully managed fibre leased line, we upgraded this to a greater bandwidth of 200/1GB, thereby providing the increased speeds needed for a bigger team collectively using more cloud services.
Leased lines are dedicated connections offering guaranteed bandwidth used solely by the end user.
Not only do leased lines ensure smoother performance, but they also provide greater security.
With Russells as well as all businesses, the need for uptime is even greater as more daily tasks depend on an internet connection. Netcomms can also provide ongoing monitoring and with improved SLAs compared to a standard connectivity product such as FTTP, SOGEA or FTTC.
THE BENEFITS.
Most of all, the Russells team are finding their new solution more convenient. It’s easy to manage the administration tool, and they’re happy to do that in-house, safe in the knowledge that they can call on us whenever they need.
The reason it’s so easy to manage is that it’s cloud-hosted and centrally managed in one web portal. So, from anywhere, their internal admin users can manage call queues and routing across the organisation. It’s just as easy for other users too.
They are especially enjoying the softphone feature accessed on their key devices and the simple way this delivers phone functionality, meaning they can output the main business or direct dial number, make, take, transfer and hold calls via their PC and Mac laptops and desktops and mobile smartphones too. Their regular videos calls are also easier to manage and running smoothly thanks to the quality of the technology.
Overall, this is making their communications more flexible. Like many Law offices, their work is fluid and split between the office, home and many other locations. Client visits and outside meetings are common. Thanks to the mobile solution we provided, “out of the office” doesn’t mean “out of touch”.
Finally, the upgraded leased line is powering the office more smoothly than ever before.
WHAT IT SHOWS.
We’re proud to have worked with Russells for so many years, and we think it’s testament to our attention to detail. Their existing solution was working well, but we could see that they’d benefit from some of the technical developments that have emerged since they first became a customer.
That’s the proactive approach we take. We’ll always look to provide our customers with a futureproof solution that is tailored to their needs. This case study shows our ability to do it.
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