Australian Financial Markets Association
Australian Financial Markets Association
Since 1986 the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) has been at the vanguard of the Australian over-the-counter (OTC) wholesale financial markets industry. OTC markets cover transactions in financial securities facilitated outside an exchange.
This includes trading in foreign exchange; interest rate products; financial derivatives; repurchase agreements; commodities, equity, and electricity derivatives. AFMA is recognized as the peak representative body, on call through six associations, to a community of 9,000 individuals across 127 member organizations.
AFMA’s Head of Information Technology, Tim Dobner, considered Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as a telephony solution a couple of years ago, but felt the technology was not ready and would have a hard time living up to its hype. In December 2004, a couple of weeks before moving to new premises, AFMA decided it would be a good time to revisit VoIP as a telephony solution for the future. “We were toying with the idea of introducing a new PABX. It made sense to transfer the cost to implement a VoIP solution and gain the benefits of reduced voice calls, in-house conference call management and presence management. [The relocation] was a good opportunity to introduce new technology. We’re going to be here for the next ten years and the IPFX implementation will basically pay for itself in one to two years.”
The Challenge
Identify and implement a robust and intelligent telephony solution with a two year payback.
The Solution
- IPFX Vision Suite
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
- Microsoft Outlook 2003
- 60 x Cisco 7940 handsets
The Benefits
- Rapid implementation
- An immediate 25% reduction in call costs
- Rapid acceptance by entire organization
- Expect 100% ROI within two years
Swift Implementation
“Staff were trained on the Thursday. They packed their boxes on the Friday; moved in on the Monday; and were answering calls on the new system immediately. That worked really well.”
Call Reduction and Presence Management
“To be honest, I thought there would be a real culture shock but they really embraced it. They loved the fact that they could look at Outlook, look in the directory, see who was on the phone, look at the calls coming through with pop-up messaging.
There were a number of people who weren’t that IT savvy and they picked it up really well. They loved it.” Since the implementation, AFMA’s phone bill has reduced about 25%. Tim attributes this to “a more intelligent voicemail system where there’s less voicemail tagging.”
AFMA’s new IPFX telephony solution was chosen to bring immediate and future benefits to the organization. As Tim says, “It’s working extremely well. Everyone, in the entire organization, is really pleased with the outcome.” To find out more about AFMA, refer to www.afma.com.au
Through our service provider we were introduced to the IPFX for Call Manager Solution. “With hardly any notice from us it was delivered within a 2½ week timeframe from initial consultation and equipment ordering through to implementation.” “We left the old system on Friday and went live with the new system on the Monday. No loss of our productive environment. No downtime at all.” “Today, if you were to go up to people and take their new phone away, and replace it with the old system, they would NOT be happy,” said Tim of the way the organization had embraced IPFX’s telephony solution.
Rapid Change, Instant Value
Through our service provider we were introduced to the IPFX for Call Manager Solution. “With hardly any notice from us it was delivered within a 2½ week timeframe from initial consultation and equipment ordering through to implementation.” “We left the old system on Friday and went live with the new system on the Monday.
No loss of our productive environment. No downtime at all.” “Today, if you were to go up to people and take their new phone away, and replace it with the old system, they would NOT be happy,” said Tim of the way the organization had embraced IPFX’s telephony solution.
Beyond the Hype
The implementation incorporated the IPFX for Call Manager suite of telephony software which integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook.
AFMA are using the management reporting software to calculate accurate service levels by looking at how many calls were abandoned/received/who from/where from and call duration. This information is also used for billing where appropriate.
Intelligent Telephony
According to Tim, it’s the little things that make the IPFX solution add so much value: “Voice recording is great. I had to conduct a late night conversation with the UK.
The meet-me conference feature dialled me at home. We held the conversation. We recorded it, using the continuous call record feature, then forwarded it on to various people in the organization for actioning.”