ENR Top 500 Engineering & Architecture Firm Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, & Cannon Deploys 8x8 Cloud Unified Communications in 12 ...
July 08 2014 - 7:15AM
Business Wire
Standardizing Communications on the Secure and
Reliable 8x8 Cloud Platform Enables Effective Utilization of
Specialized Talent Regardless of Geographic Location
8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT), a provider of cloud-based unified
communications, contact center and collaboration solutions, today
announced that Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and Cannon, Inc., one of
Engineering News Record’s (ENR) Top 500 engineering and
architecture firms in the U.S., has deployed 8x8 Virtual Office
services to approximately 400 users in its Nashville, Tennessee
headquarters and 11 other offices in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia
and Ohio. By standardizing on the 8x8 secure unified communications
platform across all 12 locations, Barge Waggoner enables its
talented professionals to quickly and easily collaborate with
colleagues in other offices regardless of location, enhancing the
agility and productivity of this widely distributed
organization.
Founded in 1955, Barge Waggoner is a full-service engineering
and architecture firm focused on industrial, energy, environmental,
aviation, water services and land resources (private development,
surface transportation, civil site design and survey) markets as
well as federal government work. Before implementing 8x8’s unified
communications solution, Barge Waggoner had as many as 10 different
phone systems installed at its various offices. These older systems
lacked modern features and functionality, such as email
notification of voicemail and accompanying mobile apps. More
importantly, the problems associated with having disparate phone
systems were exacerbated when the firm organized to focus on
vertical markets rather than geographic locations. This
organization meant that professionals in areas like water plant
design needed to collaborate with colleagues throughout the firm,
not just in their own local offices.
“We wanted to use the talent we have anywhere,” explained Barge
Waggoner’s Chief Technology Officer Paul Dougherty. “To align our
business vertically, we needed a communications solution that could
overcome geography and enable our specialists to efficiently
consult with other employees. Dougherty initially considered
standardizing the entire firm on an on-premise VoIP system, but the
required capital expenditures and IT support requirements that
would be needed at each location gave him pause. Lack of
incremental scalability was another issue.
“Our firm is affected by macroeconomics, just as many businesses
are today,” said Dougherty. “We wanted the ability to quickly add
users and offices during expansion, and to scale back during
downturns. There’s no point investing in expensive hardware we may
not be able to use in the future.” Impressed by a recent Gartner
Magic Quadrant report that named 8x8 a leader in unified
communications, Dougherty and his team decided to pilot 8x8 service
at one office.
“We were very pleased with the feedback received so the firm
decided to move forward with 8x8,” said Dougherty. “Our original
plan was to implement 8x8 only where it was needed most, but
momentum started to build, and we ended up canceling some phone
service contracts early and replacing the former hardware that
wasn’t even fully depreciated so we could standardize the whole
company on 8x8 unified communications.”
From Dougherty’s perspective, 8x8 has “transformed how we
interact with clients and other stakeholders.” Employees can now
make and receive business calls on their smartphones using the 8x8
mobile app, which makes it appear as if they are using their office
phones. Email notification of voicemail lets employees know when
they have voice messages—and caller ID indicates who left the
message, greatly enhancing responsiveness to clients.
Standard 8x8 business features such as four-digit dialing
between offices and a company-wide directory on every desktop make
it easy for employees to reach colleagues anywhere in the firm.
Conference bridges are also included as part of the standard
service, eliminating additional charges for third-party
conferencing services. The flexibility of the 8x8 solution enables
customized configurations for the firm’s locations. For example,
some offices allow direct inward dial (DID) calls to go straight to
the call recipient; others set up ring groups and have a
receptionist answer calls before transferring them to the
recipient.
“8x8 allows us to set up our phone system to meet the needs of
each office and the individuals who work there,” said Dougherty.
“Each time we rolled out 8x8 to a new location, our IT Manager,
David Ferguson led a team of champions who would work with an 8x8
sales engineer to train users and answer our questions. All we had
to say is ‘we would like the system to perform this way,’ and he
helped us find the answer. The sales engineer visited us on site
numerous times which was extremely helpful.”
"The benefits of switching to 8x8’s cloud-based unified
communications are even more apparent with highly distributed
organizations like Barge Waggoner,” said 8x8 CEO Vik Verma. "8x8
provides a single unified platform that enables the entire company
to communicate and collaborate effectively while providing enough
flexibility to establish customized configurations for specific
locations, groups and users.”
About 8x8, Inc.
8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) is the trusted provider of secure and
reliable cloud-based unified communications and virtual
contact center solutions to more than 37,000 small, midsize and
distributed enterprise organizations operating in over 40 countries
across six continents. 8x8's out-of-the-box cloud solutions replace
traditional on-premise PBX hardware and software-based systems with
a flexible and scalable Software as a Service (SaaS) alternative,
encompassing cloud business phone service, contact center
solutions, and web conferencing. For additional information,
visit www.8x8.com, or www.8x8.com/UK or connect with
8x8
on Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and
Cannon, Inc.
Barge Waggoner is a professional services firm that includes
engineers, architects, landscape architects, and surveyors employed
in offices in Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio and Georgia. Our focus
markets include Aviation, Energy & Environment, Federal,
Industrial and Building Services, Land Resources and Water
Services. Founded in 1955, Barge Waggoner is ranked No. 171 in the
2014 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firms list.
Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn -@BargeWaggoner. For more
information, please visit our website: www.bargewaggoner.com.
8x8, Inc.Tim Polakowski, 408-883-8434PR
Managertim.polakowski@8x8.com
8x8 (NYSE:EGHT)
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