Delivering a Unified Communications Solution
Client – G&M Group
Industry – Manufacturing
www.gm-radiator.com
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Tel: +44 131 202 0777
G&M Group manufactures and supplies heat exchange systems and components for every type of application and environment.
It specialises in developing copper/brass, aluminium and non-ferrous heat exchangers for use in systems that utilise air, water, oil, fuel, A/C gas, steam and virtually any other medium.
The Business Background
Established in 1964, and still a privately-owned family business, G&M Group continues to operate to the principles and beliefs of its founder. It’s unshakable passion for innovation, progress, customer service and value for money has ensured its growth and success over the last 50 years.
With 115 employees G&M Group has its HQ and three locations in Glasgow, one in Cannock, Staffs and one in Wellingborough, Northants and another in Galway Ireland.
The Challenge
“We were looking to carry out a complete upgrade of our IT infrastructure across the Group which included the implementation of cloud computing solutions and it made sense to look at upgrading our increasingly out of date telephone system at the same time,” explained David Forrest, IT Manager for G&M Group.
Historically, G&M had used different telephone systems across its locations with inter-office calls being charged as a local or trunk call and with the Galway location as an international call. The Glasgow HQ deployed an ageing on- premise PBX which was maintained and supported by one company with calls and lines being provided by another.
Administering and supporting different telephony systems at each location was not only difficult but also time consuming.
“The time was right to install a business telephone system that would bring our disparate locations together as one,” said Forrest. “I wanted a leading edge telephony solution from a provider with a proven track record and a solution which would not only deliver business benefits to the Group and its employees, but which would be easy to maintain and crucially, help to reduce our overall operating costs.”
The Solution
Initially Forrest carried out his own research around the suitability of traditional in-house PBX and hosted Voice over the Internet (VoIP) systems.
“As communication between our multiple sites was a key requirement a VoIP solution became more and more appealing,” Forrest commented. “I looked at several hosted VoIP providers and went as far as having demos from three of them and then decided to take advice from Steven McGuire, one of the Directors of G&M’s IT and Comms provider, Brightridge.”
G&M Group has a long-standing relationship with Livingston based Brightridge having worked with them for ten years. In turn, Brightridge had an established business relationship with cloud- communications provider 8×8 Solutions
McGuire arranged a demo of the 8×8 hosted VoIP solution and Forrest was immediately impressed with the flexibility of its unified communications platform. It was also clear that 8×8 was able to deliver a very cost-effective solution when compared to the quotes Forrest had received from the other providers he had talked to.
“I particularly liked the features and functionality of the 8×8 Solution, especially when compared with that available from our previous on-premise PBX,” continued Forrest. “The abilityto allow G&M Group employees to hot desk is very important as is the capability to set up ring groups. We are also benefitting from the conferencing calling functionality. Importantly, 8×8 also allows me to easily and quickly add new employees to the system and last but not least, everyone really likes the voicemail to e-mail capability.”
Currently G&M’s Glasgow HQ and two other Glasgow locations plus the Cannock site are taking full advantage of 8×8’s hosted VoIP solution. G&M found the installation process to be extremely quick and painless.
“Essentially, it took only a single day to set up the new IP phones on our users’ desks with all the configuration work being handled remotely by the 8×8 team,” stated Forrest.
The smooth installation was aided by G&M taking full advantage of Brightridge’s data networking expertise which enabled Brightridge to carry out a full site survey which was shared with 8×8 prior to the install taking place.
“Given the benefit we have seen from implementing 8×8’s hosted cloud communications solution, I would have no hesitation in recommending both Brightridge and 8×8 to other businesses looking to move their business telephone system to the cloud”
David Forrest
IT Manager, G&M Group
The Benefits
One of the key benefits for G&M is that 8×8’s hosted VoIP solution completely eliminates the headache of having an on-premise PBX which requires often expensive maintenance and upgrades.
“With 8×8 all of our users have extensions making communication between different sites so much easier and of course, cheaper. Additionally, now that we can communicate and collaborate with each other quickly and easily, the Group as a whole feels much more integrated than would ever have been possible with the multiple telephony solutions we were previously using,” Forrest commented.
G&M began seeing cost savings from day one of installation. With 8×8’s VoIP solution G&M has been able to drop its expensive traditional phone lines and continues to see monthly cost savings as more locations are added.
If you require unified communications for your business, use the contact form below to get an initial discussion about your needs.
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