IT Company and Large Multi Trust Academy
The IT company selected Connect365 to provide 1800 SIP2Teams licences for a large Multi Academy Trust (MAT) they look after.
Snapshot:
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Selected SIP2Teams for a large MAT they manage with a turnover of £161 million
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Monthly cost was reduced from £27,000 to £9,000
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The MAT now has one simple solution across 37 sites
About the client:
The MAT are a ‘not for profit’ organisation and was formed in 2009. They currently have 37 academies within the trust educating approximately 19,000 pupils across seven local authority areas including Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire, Leicester City, Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Lincolnshire.
Challenges:
The MAT had multiple different providers of phone systems across 37 sites. All sites were using different technologies. The individual sites had legacy on premise phone systems of all different makes and models. The individual phone systems worked in various ways. They all had different suppliers and various support avenues. There was no system across the MAT. Everything was deployed on an individual basis with no uniformity across the sites. The various systems had different contract end dates meaning it had always been hard historically to make a wholesale change. Each individual site was billed individually with no central hub for management or control.
Solutions:
Connect365 deployed our SIP2Teams solution. This solution enabled all the sites to utilise Microsoft Teams as their phone system. Connnect365’s role was to provide the ability for the MAT to be able to make calls and receive calls from Teams but without paying Microsoft direct for the calling plans. Calling plans from Microsoft are very expensive and hard to manage. If you run out of minutes as an example you must purchase more minutes via Microsoft on a company credit card. This was not realistic for the MAT.
Our solution was to deploy 1800 SIP2Teams licences and 100 SIP Channels across 37 sites. Each individual user was linked with the MS Teams Phone System via an automated PowerShell which made for simple deployment. The MAT had to provide a list of users, and we did the rest via automation. Each user had a DDI provided by Connect365. The Microsoft Teams Phone System is programmed by the owner of the tenant who are the IT Company. They manage the system on behalf of the MAT. They have complete control of the phone system via Teams admin and access to our SIP management portal.
Our solution takes care of the calling side of the phone system. We deployed shared premium SIP Channels with aggregated usage (meaning the MAT have a pool of channels shared across all sites so they can flex up and down dependent on need). The SIP Channels give the MAT 5000 minutes to 01, 02, 03 and UK 07 mobile aggregated together meaning they have half a million minutes a month in total to utilise.
Calls come into the site via SIP Channels (over a data connection). We point the call into the DDI and then the Teams phone system takes over. Our job at Connect365 is then complete.
In essence the solution from Connect365 deals with the calling side of the Teams phone solution as opposed to paying Microsoft a fortune for the privilege.
Results & Benefits:
By deploying this solution there was a huge reduction in costs. The MAT has reduced costs by two thirds.
There is now one solution in place across 37 sites. This means one single point of contact (IT Company) for support.
There is now a one bill solution as opposed to 37 individual invoices from multiple suppliers.
Everything has been streamlined. There is one contract in place with one definitive contract end date. No longer does the MAT have to worry about multiple contract end dates.
This solution has made life easier. The Microsoft Teams Phone Solution is being utilised by the MAT and supported by the IT Company. Connect365 have provided a simple but effective way to make and receive calls in a very cost-effective manner.
If you would like to contact Connect365 after reading this case study, then please call 03304413888 or contact us on our form.
If you would like to speak with the end user about the solution provided, please reach out and we can arrange a call.
