Leveraging Unified Communications for a Competitive Advantage Event Code: TECH11 Session Presenters: Jeffrey Mina Information Technology Director Meager & Geer PLLP Ed Jorczyk Information Technology Director Bowman and Brooke LLP Ben Weinberger (Former) Director of IT & Facilities Bond Pearce LLP
Leveraging Unified Communications for a Competitive Advantage The Future of Communications is Now Will Your Firm Fall Behind? Jeffrey Mina Information Technology Director Meager & Geer PLLP
Competitive Advantage? Can technology provide a true competitive advantage at a law firm? KM, deal space, Extranets, ediscovery? Failure to provide tools creates a disadvantage Efficiency, ease of use, quality of life Attorney productivity? Reduce time spent Adoption is key
Background Information Jeff Mina, IT Director, 20+ Years in Legal IT Meagher & Geer, PLLP, 80 Attorneys, 150 Users, 2 Offices Experience at firms with 800+ attorneys Worked with Seimans, Octel, AT&T and NEC
Technical Environemnt All Virtual, VSphere 5.1 VMware Horizon View 5.2 EMC VNX5300 Exchange 2010 Lync 2010 Windows 7/Office 2010
Lync Environment Lync Servers Lync Edge Server; UAG Lync Monitoring Server, SQL Sonus (NET) UX2000, UX1000 Gateways/SBA PRI from carriers not SIP
Lync vs.? Cisco? ShoreTel? Avaya? Mitel? Bueller, Bueller, Bueller?
UM/UC History Exchange UM in 2010 - I must have someone answer the phone; what is this funny voicemail preview; I must be able to dial into my voicemail Lync 2010 in 2012 NEC End of Support Lync 2013 in 2014 iphone/ipad App; VDI Support
Introduction of UM
Introduction of Lync
Devices Lync Optimized PolyCom CX600, CX500, CX3000 Jabra M930 Plantronics Voyager Legend Plantronics Calisto No more $500 NEC ten-button phones!
Devices
Devices
Devices
Policies Instant messaging Not saved, transitory like a phone call, more is less Your picture will be displayed Missed calls do not mean you need to call back No inappropriate status updates Must enter billing numbers when billable
What do attorneys like? Presence IM Conference Calls without hanging up on someone Click and call from websites and SharePoint Desktop sharing Call forwarding; simultaneous ring
What do attorneys like? Conference room access. Now it all works the same. Local clients on home computers and macs No more paper directory Contact integration
What is Presence? Difficult to describe Train by example, example, example Is big brother watching? Can t get by without it after one week
Concerns? Is anyone considering a traditional phone system? Sound quality? Too good if anything. (PRIs not SIP?) Bandwidth usage? No one uses video conferencing much anyway. Is IM one too many communications methods? Actually relives pressure by taking incidental communications out of email.
Concerns? Headsets instead of phones? After a few hair issues, more productive, easier than handsets. Wearing styles were key. Open Federation? Still reviewing. Other security issues? Edge, UAG? Too much stuff. Faxing (Please kill me)
Scenarios Conference calls Just call me and I will handle it Unlimited WebEx/GoTo Meeting Video? I ve got my laptop, no problem I don t need my secretary to set this up My attorneys call your firm and can do The client saw me checking the lead partner s Presence
Leveraging Unified Communications for a Competitive Advantage Ben Weinberger (Former) Director of IT & Facilities Bond Pearce LLP
About Bond Pearce Ben Weinberger (former) Director of IT and Facilities Bond Pearce Solicitors 350 fee earners, 650 total personnel, 5 sites System in Use: Lync 2010, USB headsets, some HP 4110 handsets (100) System replaced: Nortel CS1000/OCS Other Systems: vsphere, NetApp, Cisco UCS Windows 2008r2, Exchange 2010 Windows 7, Office 2010
M G 1 0 0 0 LYNC Server Layout NET Gateway On each site with internal SBA COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL PSTN Internet LYNCFE01 Enterprise Edition NETWORK LYNCPOOL1 HLB USERS LYNCEDGE01 LYNCFE02 Enterprise Edition Reverse Proxy SQLVMBRI01 Report server LYNCWEB1 Web Services LYNCMON01 Monitor / Archive
About Other Stuff Very progressive law firm, open to change, appreciative and accepting of new systems and tools (YMMV) All IMs are logged, pictures are in AD, no call accounting Did not deploy handsets unless requested
How Do You Measure Competitive Advantage? Reduced costs
How Do You Measure Competitive Advantage? Better client service
How Do You Measure Competitive Advantage? Improved client retention
How Do You Measure Competitive Advantage? Improved lawyer retention My last firm
How Do You Measure Competitive Advantage? If you could just email the faxes of the photocopies of the transcripts of the fifteen phone messages, that would probably be the simplest. And then, please print-out my email for me to read. Improved Efficiency = More Profit Especially for fixed fee work
How Do You Measure Competitive Advantage? Value Add (common in UK panel appointments) Example: Use of A/V or web conferencing
Business Case IM Presence (calendar info) Audio/Video Conference Phone (headsets only) UM
Business Case Already own Lync Already running With This was merely an upgrade to OCS and the elimination of Nortel
Business Case Enables true mobility across firm
Business Case Eliminate OpEx from CS1000 maintenance ( 30k) SIP trunking, improved local number DR Eliminated most handsets ( 75k) Ease/cost of expansion
Benefits The Larger The Firm, the Larger The Benefit IM and Presence (especially for calendars) Desktop sharing for collaboration and training A/V Conferencing (no external service needed) Mobility (all laptops use MS DA and have headsets) Open federation with clients and vendors
Some Hiccups Along The Way VM announcement sounds like Stephen Hawking s sister Found circuit and local network QoS issues in London No group call pickup function needed an add-on product, but it now exists in Interrupted V/C capability for laptop users with OCS
Leveraging Unified Communications for a Competitive Advantage At Least That's What The Microsoft Rep Said Ed Jorczyk Information Technology Director Bowman and Brooke LLP
Ed Jorczyk Director of IT, Bowman and Brooke 2011 Present Director of IT, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2009 2011 Director of Global Technology, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Bowman and Brooke LLP 200 Attorneys, 500 total Trial litigators, highly mobile Nine Offices, coast to coast Product Liability Group of the Year
Technical Environment Legacy Dual Data Centers MSP & PHX Highly Virtualized, vsphere 5.1 Dell blades, XIO, Hitachi BlueArc Windows 2008 R2 SQL 2008 Exchange 2010 Lync 2010 Windows 7, Office 2010 Future Centralized Co-Location Fully Virtualized Cisco NetApp FlexPod Windows 2008 R2 / 2012 SQL 2008 / 2012 Exchange 2013 Lync 2013 Windows 7, Office 2010
History Microsoft Office Communications Server - 2010 Microsoft Lync 2010 Pilot - Q1/2011 Microsoft Lync 2010 Rollout Q2/2011
Usage Voice Presence Desktop Sharing Conferencing
Current Lync Topology
Receptionists Very comfortable with console
Receptionists Very comfortable with console Dedicated PC for Lync Attendant Transferring Calls takes practice After hours and holiday announcements
Overhead Paging It just worked with Nortel Option 1 Lync SIP endpoint with Bogen amplifiers Option 2 - Desk microphone
Handsets Aastra 6725ip Provides pass through NIC for connection to PC USB cable for control from Lync Handsets for everyone
Call Coverage No line appearances Forward or Simultaneous Ring Delegates or Team-Call Groups
Conferencing Lync vs Intercall - Capacity Delays in switching to a conference call
Help Desk Geographically dispersed help desk Response Groups Round Robin Longest Idle Serial Parallel Limited Reporting
Conference Room Integration Polycom CX 3000 Polycom Sound Structure Polycom HDX Video
Trial Site War Rooms CradlePoint Wireless Routers Aastra phones Lync on laptops
Support Windows Server Lync Patches Phone Firmware Updates Managed Services Sonus Gateway Update
Issues Echo Dropped Calls Call quality
Questions? Thank you! Jeffrey Mina Information Technology Director Meagher & Geer PLLP jmina@meagher.com Ed Jorczyk Information Technology Director Bowman and Brooke LLP Edward.jorczyk@bownamandbrooke.com Ben Weinberger (Former) Director of IT & Facilities Bond Pearce LLP ben@benweinberger.com