Biffa streamlines its communication sector, eliminating unnecessary waste

Biffa streamlines its communication sector, eliminating unnecessary waste

Biffa, the UK's second-largest waste management provider, is simplifying its communications infrastructure in a bid to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The company has chosen Azzurri as its single provider for the wide-area network, IP telephony, mobile telephony, and call center systems, under a three-year contract.

The decision to unify communications was driven by several factors. Biffa's existing infrastructure was complex and fragmented, with multiple disparate systems across its operations. This complexity made management difficult and inefficient.

To address this, Biffa aimed to streamline its communications platform to improve collaboration both internally and with customers and suppliers. A unified infrastructure would provide a more joined-up platform for Biffa's 4,500 mobile employees, simplifying mobile working.

Cost reduction was another key factor. By consolidating communications onto a single platform and working with a single provider, Biffa expects to reduce its total communications costs over the next three years from £7 million to £5 million. The contract with Azzurri is expected to deliver a £2 million saving over this period.

Reliability and support were also important considerations. Partnering with Azzurri offers Biffa a reliable managed service with consistent support, ensuring higher uptime and better service quality.

Scalability and future-proofing were also key. Biffa wanted a flexible solution that could adapt to its growing business and evolving technology needs. A single platform enables easier management and monitoring of communication systems from a central point, making it simpler to scale up or down as required.

Biffa's telecommunications infrastructure was heterogeneous, reflecting past technology strategies and company acquisitions. The company had two main IP telephony platforms that weren't integrated, and wanted to completely integrate them and take cost out of the Cisco kit.

Under the contract, Azzurri will manage Biffa's mobile telephony, wide-area network, IP telephony, and call center systems. The contract includes a mobile tariff partnership with O2, offering free calls within Biffa. Biffa plans to upgrade 1,800 in-cab mobile devices to 4G-enabled Windows 8 devices towards the end of the year, and will roll out 60 iPads to sales staff, using Azzurri's mobile device management offering.

In addition, the contract involves 'flashing' Cisco IP phones to allow them to be connected to the Avaya switch, reducing costs. Biffa is also working on a new web portal for its 65,000 collection customers, moving the core infrastructure to a colocated data center with Phoenix Datacom. The unification aims to support new initiatives such as mobile working, video-conferencing, and Biffa's upcoming data center outsourcing move.

Biffa operates a huge portfolio of property, some of which is unmanned or has lone workers, and aims to do more streaming of CCTV across its network. The network will play a fundamental role in the implementation of these IT projects, including the new web portal and mobile device upgrades.

In 2010, Biffa acquired a recycling business called Greenstar, and there are potential savings to be had by addressing Greenstar's legacy telephony. The company will manage the implementation of these projects through workshops, aligning plans, and coordinating to ensure successful execution.

In conclusion, Biffa's decision to unify its communications infrastructure onto a single platform from a single provider, Azzurri, was driven by the need for enhanced operational efficiency, cost reduction, improved support and reliability, scalability and future-proofing, and centralized management. The partnership is expected to deliver significant savings and improvements in efficiency and service quality.

1. Biffa's decision to partner with Azzurri as its single provider for various communication services, such as the wide-area network, IP telephony, mobile telephony, and call center systems, is a strategic move to advance their business operations in the realm of finance by reducing costs, improving efficiency, and streamlining mobile working.
2. To achieve their goal of maximizing efficiency and profitability, Biffa is also focusing on technology, aiming to integrate their disparate communication systems, upgrade their in-cab mobile devices, and leverage future-proof solutions to adapt to their growing business needs and evolving technology landscape.

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