MARKS KOMMUN COUNTY, SWEDEN

Customer Profile

The Swedish municipality of Mark, or Marks Kommun as it’s often referred to in Sweden, is renowned for its textile industry. It is situated near Sweden’s west coast, and is about an hour's drive from Göteborg. Mark actually means borderland; it straddles what used to be the border between Denmark and Sweden when Denmark occupied the Swedish province of Halland.

Situation

The municipality of Mark has a clear vision on communication, which it regards as crucial for a community that aspires to be attractive to both live and work in. Realising that its residents increasingly need to work and communicate from many places, and that its organisations must develop more effective business processes if they are to compete, the municipality concluded that it needed an advanced communications solution to propel itself into the IT age.

Requirements

What the municipality required was a cost-effective solution that offers better service to the public, yet is flexible enough to meet changing public safety demands. Moreover, the cost of the solution must fit within the framework of a fixed budget for five years. And because Marks Kommun includes IP-technology in its network, it means all available communication channels can be used, regardless their geographic location.

Solution

Following an extensive analysis and technical assessment, Marks Kommun opted for a solution provided by NEC Philips Unified Solutions. To help it meet the customer’s requirements, NEC Philips Unified Solutions chose a secure, unified communication solution, merged with the present management configuration. The combination of an NEC Philips SV7000, with its distinctive mobile capabilities, and the integration with Microsoft’s Live Communication Server 2005, has now given Marks Kommun a solution that meets several challenges.

At the application site, strong functionality improvements were realised by customising the Office Communicator client with an ADS-based catalogue, call centre agents, telephony operators and text messaging between terminals and office clients. This was all accomplished by using the same Office Communicator client, providing one look and feel across the organization, and powered from one communications application engine.

It transpired that NEC Philips was the only supplier able to provide this level of integration and backward compatibility with unmatched mobile solutions like business mobility (IP DECT) and mobility access (GSM and Windows Mobile integration).

Technical features

The NEC Philips SV7000 is installed as a redundant system with two T-servers (Telephony) and two S-servers (Signalling). A total of 1,200 extensions are deployed, of which 66% are mobile ones. Another 600 Microsoft Office Communicator clients were also deployed, including telephone operators, contact centre agents, Windows mobile devices and fixed terminals.

The back office now comprises just two application engines to power the presence and contact information, available through a single desktop client.

The municipality’s unified communication solution covers some 50 square miles, which includes the Town Hall, 15 branches offices and over 200 points of presence in the county with small offices.

Benefits

By applying the state-of-the-art technology in the NEC Philips solution, Marks Kommun can now give better service to its residents and serve them with greater reach. This now helps the municipality to promote itself as a young, dynamic and modern residential area in which to live and work.

The integration of voice, data, speech, video and instant messaging enables the organisation and its employees to be more flexible than ever.

Features

• Centrally available, secure and unified communication entity
• Reduced operational cost, thanks to consolidating the number of voice systems and applications
• Same user interface for operator, contact centre agent, messaging and catalogue via Microsoft Office Communicator clients
• Intuitive, secure, web-accessible management
• Distinctive mobile capabilities like IP DECT and mobility access (GSM, Windows Mobile devices)
• Strategic alliance with Microsoft, merging both solutions in one open, unified communication solution
• One communications application engine to power customised Office Communicator clientsSingle point of entry, management and monitoring to provide lower IT-costs and maintenance