Skanska USA Building Fulfills Nationwide Collaborative Communication Strategy with Cisco Unified Communications
At A Glance
Skanska USA Building has 24 offices in 14 states, plus San Juan, Puerto Rico, along with its corporate headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey. With much of the company's growth occurring through acquisitions, the company's CIO and IT staff were grappling with the consolidation of technology for many organizations and bringing it all together under one IT organization. The creation of one communications platform would unify the decentralized nature of the company.
A Cisco Unified Communications system designed and deployed by Cisco Gold Certified Partner Alliant Technologies provides a consistent calling and feature/function experience at all of Skanska's offices and various job sites, while providing a platform for growth and future applications. Alliant's unique business model allows it to match needed skills on a customer's IT team with members of its own staff, closely partnering with its clients for success.
December 22, 2006
The Skanska USA Building name is behind many of today's most advanced and prestigious facilities. The company's expertise spans the construction industry spectrum from small renovations to billion-dollar projects, and its major clients are among the most recognizable corporations and learning institutions in the country. Having undergone significant growth in the last 10 years, Skanska now has 24 offices in 14 states, plus San Juan, Puerto Rico, along with its corporate headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey. With much of the company's growth occurring through acquisitions, Chris Stockley, senior vice president and CIO of Skanska, and his IT staff were grappling with the consolidation of technology for many organizations and bringing it all together under one IT organization.
"The rapid company growth and number of acquisitions meant that, in terms of technology, we probably had one of everything," says Stockley. "We wanted to create one communications platform that would unify the decentralized nature of our company." Additionally, the firm leverages a vast number of partners and subcontractors for its building projects, and about 80 percent of its own workforce is on remote sites that open and close within a year or two as projects are completed. The company felt that a platform that promoted communications and collaboration for employees and partners would allow it to work in a unique way and provide a competitive advantage.
To make this business-critical communications and collaboration strategy a reality, Skanska turned to Alliant Technologies, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner located in Morristown, New Jersey, which has earned Cisco specializations in IP communications, wireless, and security. The Alliant business model is designed to augment a client's staff by assessing current skill sets and assembling a complementary team that becomes part of the client's IT staff.
"Skanska wanted a company that they could trust, and I gave them guarantees on timeframes, access to labor, and scalable project teams so that the project would not fall behind," says Bruce Flitcroft, Alliant CEO. "Our ability to 'out-task' and provide team members with analytical skills or functions that were outside the ability of the Skanska IT staff was very attractive to them."
Skanska and Alliant forged a partnership built on trust. Alliant showed how it could not only implement a Cisco Unified Communications for the company, but coordinate with various telecomm vendors. It could design a solution, procure equipment and manage projects. It could handle training and provide critical day-2 support such as moves, adds, and changes and various core tasks.
"Equally as important as choosing the right technology solution was making sure that we chose the right partner to help us with design, implementation, and support," says Stockley. "We spent significant time comparing Alliant to other organizations and did our due diligence by talking with Cisco representatives, telecomm vendors, and other associates. We were confident that Alliant had the R&D expertise and the innovative solutions to help us meet our business goals."
Flitcroft says companies today are looking for a more balanced strategy than just outsourcing. They want to out-task skills yet keep the management and control in-house.
"Skanska was entering a huge transition in its business and needed a technology partner and implementer that they could trust," says Flitcroft. "When they met with us and realized that we would exceed their expectations, they built a trusted relationship with us. We validated their decision on a Cisco solution with AT&T as the telecommunications provider, and we were there to provide assurance and to support them."
Alliant recommended a Cisco Unified Communications system including Cisco Unified CallManager call-processing software, Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Cisco switches, and Cisco Unified IP Phones. This solution would provide a centralized voice and data communications solution, eliminating the need for independent management and maintenance of disparate phone systems and reducing the company's overall call center and phone and network administration costs.
With the large deployment, Alliant planned a phased approach that involved rolling out the solution first to all of the U.S. corporate offices and then to other locations or jobsites. With the U.S. deployment complete, the company is already experiencing a significant decrease in operational costs, according to Chris Stockley.
The company is, however, seeing business benefits beyond the cost savings. Stockley says that Cisco Unified Communications has unified Skanska, enabling it to communicate better.
"The business advantage we now have is that we are a global company that can leverage its global strengths, but deliver them in a way that feels local to our customers," says Stockley. "For our customers, this means that one of our experts is available for any job site no matter what their office location. This was a very strategic move for Skanska." Any Skanska employee can be at any of its U.S. offices, and they will find the same phone with the same functionality. This kind of unification streamlines things like checking of voicemails, which used to be handled differently in every office depending on the phone system. Stockley feels that phone systems should be a consistent solution, just like an accounting system or e-mail platform. It also means customers have the same calling experience no matter if they are calling the headquarters, a regional office, or a job site. Skanska works with people at Fortune 500 companies who expect to reach the right Skanska employee, regardless of their office location, without hanging up and re-dialing, according to Stockley.
"Another critical benefit of our Cisco Unified Communication system is that it provides us with a nearly endless amount of capability," he says. "We are in the process of putting into place things like extending the audio conferencing capability. We are interested in doing Web conferencing to share spreadsheets and large AutoCAD drawings. With this platform we can be very strategic in how we deal with our customers, our partners, and various teammates with whom we work on a daily basis."
The success of Skanska's Cisco Unified Communications drove the company to recognize Alliant, along with Cisco and AT&T, with its Partner of the Year award, and recognized the Alliant team with its Project Manager of the Year award. The awards recognize vendors that go beyond the normal bounds on a project to produce results that help Skanska better deliver solutions to its customers.
"This solution marks the beginning of a new level of collaborative culture at Skanska," says Stockley. "Our various operating units are operating as one company, and that ultimately results in our being a company with whom it is easier to do business."
