Capgemini Sweden AB

"We have become easier to reach, at the same time that we are able to better leverage our past investments", explains Peder Zetterberg, CIO Nordic region.

Greater efficiency and cost savings were the goal when Capgemini chose to integrate its fixed-line network with mobile and IP telephony.

Today, all employees can be reached through a single telephone number. No matter where in Sweden they are located and regardless of whether they use a mobile phone, fixed line or computer.

A pan-Nordic solution

Capgemini is one of the world's largest providers of management and technology consulting services, with 2,700 employees in the Nordic region alone. The Swedish organization has streamlined and rationalized its telephony infrastructure with a unified switchboard to serve all of the company's mobile and fixed-line telephones.

"Because the next step involves gathering all telephony for the Nordic countries in a single switchboard, it was natural to choose Telia", says Peder Zetterberg. "Telia was the partner best able to deliver a pan-Nordic solution", he says.

A single structure

The goal of Capgemini's telephony strategy is to interconnect all communication in a single structure.

"We have been able to integrate the employees' mobile and standard telephones in a fixed number series and have gone from six switchboards to one. It has also been possible for us to implement IP telephony, although on limited scale so far", says Peder Zetterberg.

Easier to reach

The consultants often work in the field, sometimes in different locations every day. The new solution makes it easier for customers and colleagues to quickly find who they are looking for, since all employees can be reached via the same direct number. Other key advantages of connecting mobile phones via the central switchboard are the opportunities for switchboard service such as call answering and forwarding, and that the employees themselves can transfer calls to other colleagues.

Major savings

The agreement with Telia means that Capgemini now pays a fixed monthly fee for all internal traffic, regardless whether it is transported over mobile or fixed lines or whether the connections are local or long-distance. When employees call each other on their mobile phones, the company no longer pays the customary mobile rate.

Telephony trends

Capgemini has integrated the mobile switchboard solution Telia Dirigent with its existing IP switchboard. Telia's agreement also includes delivery of a pan-Nordic WAN solution which will eventually support internal cross-border IP telephony. When it comes to telephony, more and more companies are changing over from fixed to wireless switchboard connection, according to Rickard Kullander, Global Account Manager at TeliaSonera.

IP communication technology has matured to an extent where companies are willing to adopt it. In the solution for Capgemini, we have integrated these two trends for the first time", he adds.