The UAE and Oman practices of the global accounting and professional services firm KPMG selected BT to help their client service professionals turn knowledge into value through the deployment of BT’s latest unified communications and collaboration services based on Microsoft Lync 2013.
KPMG consultants can now interact with colleagues and clients in a simpler and more efficient way. Instant Messaging (IM), audio and video conferencing are available in real time and in HD quality. Internal and external web conferencing tools allow parallel desktop views and document sharing. And easier federation allows consultants to work more closely with external parties, such as partners and clients.
The BT One Enterprise Lync service has been deployed for 1,000 users across six locations in the UAE and Oman. The solution is hosted on KPMG’s own servers and includes telephony resilience with individual offices connected directly to each other as well as through external providers to eliminate any single point of failure.
The collaboration solution is fully integrated with KPMG ‘trueMobility’ in the UAE and Oman, converging business applications, knowledge management tools, client relationship tools and practice management onto a single portal.
All integration and consultancy on the project was provided by BT Advise, BT’s consultancy and professional services unit. Microsoft Lync 2013 represented best fit due to its robust high-availability options, its interoperability with other Microsoft products and the comprehensive set of communications capabilities it provides. It was chosen following an initial assessment by BT Advise experts to design solution best suited to customer’s needs while leveraging existing infrastructure.
Jaison George, CIO at KPMG UAE and Oman, said “Collaboration between teams within a global professional services firm like KPMG is at the heart of everything we do. For our teams to be able to deliver, we need the best technology that is fit for purpose and fit for use. With Lync 2013, combined with BT’s expertise, we believe we got just that. The new system has seen an enthusiastic uptake among our employees due to its tight integration with other business applications, thus increasing productivity, cutting through complexity and adding value to our clients.”
Neil Sutton, vice president, global portfolio at BT Global Services, said “At BT, we know that better conversations are the key to creating a better future. It is all about the way people collaborate at work, overcome language barriers and deal with complex content. This is how companies take decisions. It has never been more important not to compromise on the collaboration experience. Collaboration needs to improve productivity and reduce cost. It needs to be simple, effective and secure. For KPMG’s specific requirements in the UAE, we determined that Lync 2013 was the best possible platform. BT is among the very first on the global networked IT services market to provide Lync 2013 and it is great to see such a rapid uptake from one of the industry’s most demanding clients. BT can help with the deployment of the latest collaboration technologies from a variety of leading partners thanks to the truly global expertise delivered by our highly skilled consultant teams.”
