‘Invisible’ Unified Communications Clear the Way for World-Class Client Service at Leading Law Firm

For a leading global law firm, technology is integral – yet should be invisible. When attorneys are negotiating some of the largest mergers in the world, nothing should get in the way.

“Our attorneys should never have to think about technology,” explained the firm’s CIO. “When they walk into one of our offices, the experience should be the exact same every time, from the phones to the keyboards to printers. They should all be turn-signal easy.”

That’s why the firm actually measures ease of use with the Technology Invisibility Score (TIS). And it’s also why, when the CIO joined the firm, simplifying voice communications with a single solution ranked high on his priority list.

At the time, offices around the world had a mix of legacy voice systems, requiring attorneys, staff, and IT team members to learn multiple solutions. Existing systems also failed to facilitate seamless transitions across devices. But perhaps most concerning, call quality didn’t meet the CIO’s expectations.

High-Def Voice Quality and Strong Reliability

The CIO set out to consolidate with a single unified communications platform with crystal-clear call quality and 99.999% reliability. As an IT veteran, he brought firsthand experience with many of the vendors on the market, and knew their upsides and downsides.

The firm found the Avaya IX™ Workplace aligned most closely with its goals, with a reputation for reliability, ease of use, and HD voice quality.

“We asked ourselves, ‘For our real-time communications applications, do we want a network company that built phones or a phone company that built networks?’ We chose the latter," the CIO said. “I was not going to put my partners behind a system that was not 100 percent the best quality on the planet. That’s why we selected Avaya IX Workplace.”

On top of those advantages, with Avaya IX Workplace running on iPhones, the firm had the opportunity to save on toll and mobile roaming charges as lawyers travel extensively throughout the year.

‘Next-Door’ Call Quality – across Continents

The firm rolled out Avaya IX Workplace to all of its offices, and immediately noticed a boost in sound quality. “It sounded like the person was next door,” recalled the CIO. “In reality, we were calling across continents.”

Through SIP integration with Microsoft Skype for business, attorneys and staff can initiate and receive calls with their existing Skype client. The firm also deployed Avaya Session Border Controller for Enterprise for added security on the network, and plans to add more in the near future. That will reinforce protection of all IP-based applications and help even
out traffic.

One-Touch Calling, Conferencing

The company has now rolled out Avaya IX Workplace to all 14 offices, achieving the global uniformity and simplicity the CIO desired. With just one touch, users initiate calls, access voice mail, or conference in clients and colleagues.

Attorneys, however, most value the portability of the phones. Many have requested the same Avaya VPN phones for their homes, allowing them to extend the fidelity and security to after-hours calls. The same goes for accessing IX Workplace on their mobile devices, where they have all their contacts and call logs on hand. Again, it’s a single click to transfer calls from the office to their mobile devices, where the same voice fidelity extends.

“Avaya voice fidelity is like 10X better than anything else,” said the CIO. “If an attorney is in a taxi during a client call, you can actually hear the traffic in the background. It’s that good.”

Quick collaboration with IX Workplace enables attorneys to wow clients. Six-digit dialing at all locations, even from home, connects them with contacts instantly.

“A client had an idea at 9:30 at night and called one of our attorneys,” the CIO said. “Within minutes, they had five attorneys also on the line, which changed the trajectory of the entire deal.”

Always-There Unified Communications

Avaya ultimately supports the four pillars of IT that guide everything the firm does: quality, collaboration, an entrepreneurial spirit, and empowering talent to get further faster. Most importantly, it assists attorneys in delivering world-class service to clients.

“Our attorneys never say ‘no’ to a client,” explained the firm’s CIO. “So our communications have to be there for them. Avaya gives them that invisible technology experience we strive for.”

Just as essential, the IT team spends minimal time on the Avaya solution. It just runs. “If only all our solutions had a Technology Invisibility Score like Avaya’s,” said the Associate Director, Networking. “My life would be easier.”