Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/58400
www.iltanet.org MacRoberts LLP Case Study Case study MacRoberts LLP LEGAL SECTOR MacRoberts LLP is one of Scotland's pre-eminent law firms, with 40 plus partners and 300 staff working from offices in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The firms clients include leading UK and international businesses, financial institutions, public sector organisations and private individuals. MacRoberts LLP Glasgow office move to the Capella development on Atlantic Quay in June 2010 in the heart of Glasgow's International Financial Services District (IFSD) was one of the key drivers for upgrading the capability of its IT and telecoms systems, as well as making sure it uses technology to maintain a leading edge in a highly competitive business environment. Solution required MacRoberts wanted a telephone system that embraced new technology including Voice over IP (VoIP) and conferencing. As a major legal firm it needed to provide the best affordable system to fee earners and clients who need access at all hours, both in and out of the office. Solution delivered Exactive was chosen to install Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, as the most cost-effective and workable solution. This has now been upgraded to Microsoft Lync. This combination introduced and integrated a range of Microsoft product features, including Instant Messaging (IM), Presence, audio and video conferencing and Voice. Click here to view the case study. Applications utilised Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging Microsoft Lync Client comment "We started with an evolutionary pilot in our Edinburgh office, with 100 users using instant messaging & presence, unified messaging, audio, video and web conferencing and enterprise voice (Voice over IP (VoIP)). This was so successful that within six months we had converted the whole office to Office Communications Server and switched off the old PBX system. We concluded that this would be a winner for the new Glasgow office too and would actually help facilitate the move. We were right, it went so well that we have now upgraded to Microsoft Lync. " The Scottish law firm MacRoberts LLP adopted Lync for their 300+ staff. What drove adoption of this solution were the collaborative, VoIP and videoconferencing features of Lync. While an architected-premise Lync solution may be viable for larger practices, replicating a high-availability solution might not make sense for smaller practices — and it will probably be cost prohibitive. Firms that have a business case for Lync are likely to implement a hosted Lync solution using a solutions provider to avoid capital expenditures, simply because of staffing or contractor limitations. Know Your Resources My key concerns for implementing Lync in configurations under 100 stations are: • Complexity of the solution • Costs in implementing then maintaining total cost of ownership (TCO) • Manageability of the solution • Quality of experience 42 ILTA White Paper Exactive has a responsive and very committed team who have a real in-depth knowledge on Unified Communications using Microsoft's products such as Lync and Exchange. They worked really hard to understand the business need and know how to meet it. Robert Crichton, Director of IT Services, MacRoberts " • Value to the firm • Licensing complexity of Lync • Integration into business applications Some can argue that this market (fewer than 100 stations) is best served with a hosted Lync solution. I disagree. The costs are usually substantially more than the customer purchasing their own solution. A large enterprise can manage complexity and leverage Lync to gain value, reduced costs and real dollar returns. Smaller firms seem to think that capital expenditure (CAPEX) carries a negative connotation and forget that the hosted solutions carry risk. Further, the payback time frame on a premise solution versus a hosted one is often less than two years. Very small firms with only a few phones and computers are usually the best fit for hosted Lync and other UC services. Those that truly benefit from avoiding CAPEX are startups that are low on cash and, once established, can afford premise solutions as a viable cost savings measure. The real opportunity is more often hybrid configurations, where a customer leverages older technology or even a newer IP system with a hosted MACROBERTS OffICE UnIfIEd COMMUnICATIOnS MACROBERTS GLASGOW OffICE