Biffa chooses Azzurri for unified communications contract

05 March 2013

Biffa Waste Services has chosen Azzurri Communications to provide a unified communications contract. Azzurri is consolidating Biffa’s communications services into one fully managed service, significantly reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) over the three year contract term

Biffa will gain from improved performance and a consistent service experience across five key communications areas:

· Wide Area Network (WAN): Though their innovative ICON (Intelligent Cloud Optimised Network) platform, Azzurri will provision a resilient network across Biffa’s 200 UK sites, forming the infrastructure to implement the UC environment. The new highly scalable WAN also provides Biffa with network monitoring tools for real-time insight into how their critical business applications are performing across the network.

· Enterprise Mobility: 4,500 mobiles will be managed by Azzurri using the 02 network. Biffa will also take advantage of a commercially innovative mobile tariff that allows for free ‘on-net’ calls for mobile to mobile calls, as well as fixed lines to mobile. The mobile solution will be tightly integrated with the Avaya platform, allowing Biffa to adopt a ‘right device strategy’ providing a consistent telephony experience, regardless of whether the person is using a fixed phone or a mobile device.

· Contact Centre: Biffa has chosen a centralised, hosted Avaya solution integrated with Azzurri Innovations’ Callmedia multi-channel application. The virtualised solution will allow Biffa to interact with customers across a number of communication methods, and ensure the most appropriately skilled agent is matched to the customer, regardless of their location.

· ICT: Azzurri’s telecoms expertise has allowed them to revitalise and refresh Biffa’s existing Cisco IP handsets, while adding 2,500 SIP endpoints to a new centrally hosted, Avaya high availability solution.

· Support Services: Biffa will gain from a consistent Service Level Agreement (SLA), service delivery and in-life services across all voice, data, contact centre and mobility areas. The proactive managed service is delivered via Azzurri’s 24/7 Network Operations Centres and their 400 person UK-wide engineering team.

The unified communications contract underpins a major business transformation initiative by Biffa, simplifying a previously complex communications infrastructure, which involved multiple technologies and providers.

David Gooding, IT Director, Biffa, said: “We have been transforming our business to best meet the needs of our customers and a vital part of facilitating that is possessing first-class ICT and telecommunications. We believe a unified communications model, integrated and managed by one expert supplier is the best way to deliver the agility and the efficiencies we’re seeking, which is why we’ve chosen Azzurri.”

Steve Jones, Procurement Director, Biffa , added: “A unified solution under one supplier gave us the opportunity to fully decouple and understand our total end-to-end costs to a greater extent than ever before. In doing so we could design and negotiate an optimal solution in terms of both cost and service delivery”

Vim Vithaldas, CEO, Azzurri Communications, said: “More and more customers are recognising the business benefits and cost efficiencies that a well-planned UC implementation can deliver. Very few firms have the expertise and skill to roll out such a ground-breaking project, so we’re delighted to have won the contract and we look forward to helping Biffa achieve their corporate goals.”