- Peer Sylvest, IT Project Manager and system operator, COWI
When you have to coordinate over 6,000 employees and
representation in 40 countries, fast secure communication
is essential. Consequently, there was really no viable
alternative to Unified Communications as the future
communications platform when COWI began installing a
new Microsoft® Office Communicator client on all of the
Company’s computer workstations in early 2008.
COWI had an urgent need for increased accessibility in
communication between colleagues, as well as a need to
improve both quality and security in the numerous data
services used by staff for internal communication.
To achieve these goals, COWI created an IT department
which now independently handles security. The entire
corporate Unified Communications installation is hosted on
a closed system of 9 servers that gives COWI’s IT staff the
ability to customize each employee’s Communicator as
needed, along with many other features and functions.
“As the number of electronic communications channels
multiplied and at the same time began to integrate in new
ways, we could see the potential for security issues.
Previously, each employee typically used an ordinary MSN
Messenger to chat with colleagues and keep track of their
accessibility and a Skype client for VoIP telephony. This
worked, but nowhere near well enough to meet our
needs,” explains Peer Sylvest, COWI’s IT Project Manager
and system operator and continues:
“Because many COWI employees travel extensively, time
becomes a crucial factor for them, with effective use
of travel time and accessibility anywhere in the world as
key objectives. our new infrastructure, an integration of
Microsoft Office Communicator Live meeting and Nortel
telephone system, lets them achieve these goals. Our new
Intranet also includes access to so-called softphones,
allowing us to bring together all communication in a single
platform, in which the individual employee can take his
“extension number” with him anywhere”.
Essential to COWI’s Unified Communication solution is the
fact, that the system provides secure, convenient access to
a wide range of communications services, including
instant messaging (chat), presence information, IPtelephony,
video conferencing, intelligent call forwarding,
online document sharing etc. At the same time, every
employee can always have the complete corporate
communications platform with him on his laptop. All that is
required is a headset certified for Unified Communications,
in order to be just as efficient on the road in India, for
instance, as at the office in Lyngby, Denmark.
“In order for our many employees to experience the new
communications platform as a success, we demand
capable suppliers of both software and hardware, and it is
simply crucial that the service providers whom we choose
as partners can handle an infrastructure of this magnitude.
We have had excellent experiences with Jabra, whom we
already knew as supplier of a large number of headsets for
our staff,” adds Peer Sylvest.
COWI’s IT Department tested numerous headset solutions
from various suppliers, and the final choice was Jabra GN2000 USB, based on quality, sound and ergonomics that
were far superior to the competition at the right price.
“The Jabra headset offers exceptional user-friendliness. It
is pure plug ‘n’ play and the sound is sublime. When talking
to a colleague in China via your computer softphone, it’s
hard to believe that he isn’t sitting right there next to you.
The sound of our system is much better than Skype and the
Jabra headsets exploit that to the fullest. It is also extremely
reliable and can take rough treatment,” elaborates Peer
Sylvest. High sound and image quality is critical, if the user
is to experience internet communication as a success. For
this reason, it was part of the COWI strategy to launch the
company’s new Communicator fully functional all at once,
instead of a more traditional slow roll-out that gradually
integrates the system. That decision proved to be the
right one, measured in terms of response from the 200
employees, who participated in the trial run of the new
communications set-up.
We have many video conferences daily, and the feedback
from participants is that they feel that they can see and
hear each other in a whole new way. This is made possible
by our investment in quality headsets from Jabra and HD
webcams. This alone provides considerable savings on
travel, because virtual meetings are now just as effective
as real meetings, Peer Sylvest explains and goes on: “Of
course, improved technology and Unified Communications
can not entirely replace travel activity. Staff members on
the go experience the same quality via our Sharepoint
Intranet and can make calls at local rates, regardless of
whether they are in Denmark, Canada or Qatar. All it takes
is an active internet connection, for instance via a 3G data
link. And the sound quality is miles ahead of the usual
scratchy Skype calls that we previously had to make do
with.”
- Peer Sylvest, IT Project Manager and system operator, COWI
CUSTOMER
COWI
WEBSITE
www.cowi.com
COUNTRY
Denmark (HQ), subsidiaries in 35 countries
INDUSTRY
Professional Services
PROFILE
COWI is a leading international consulting group. Since its
foundation in 1930, the Group has been involved in more
than 50000 projects in 175 countries. Staff includes engineers,
biologists, geologists, economists, surveyors, anthropologists,
sociologists and architects. COWI is present where ever the world’s
largest infrastructure projects take shape.
PHONE SYSTEM
Microsoft Office Communicator
JABRA SOLUTION
Products: 6000x Jabra GN2000 USB