- Arun Kalasapudi, service manager, Cisco’s IT organization
Cisco has built a strong reputation for shaping the future
of the Internet and transforming how people connect,
communicate and collaborate. This corporate success is
fueled by a far-flung workforce of thousands of employees
and contractors who work remotely and in offices around
the world.
With such a large employee and contractor base, Cisco’s
internal IT organization typically receives hundreds of calls
each day from co-workers in need of technical support
around various issues ranging from questions about their
personal computers to collaborating and communicating
using TelePresence and Unified Communications devices.
The San Jose-based IT team strives to deliver their
co-workers with the ultimate level of service and support
– handling each internal call just as if they were external
customers.
“The tenets of Cisco’s culture include employee empowerment
and innovation,” said Arun Kalasapudi, a service
manager in Cisco’s IT organization. “With this as a backdrop,
it is imperative that our team make each IT call a top
priority and deliver our co-workers with the same level of
service and attention that they provide to our customers.”
Working primarily in an open environment, the Cisco IT
team often experienced a lot of background noise on calls
– resulting in a less than optimal experience. To that end,
the company started researching headset options that
would work better in a “open and collaborative” type
setting, in essence, looking for a state-of-the art solution
that could eliminate ambient noise and deliver a higher
level of call quality. The company also wanted headset
solutions that were easy to install and would seamlessly
integrate with the Cisco Unified Communications (Cisco UC) platform.
“While we often have a physical divider in between
individual employees in the open workplace, we still were
distracted by other conversations from other sharing the
work place. We needed a headset solution that would cater
to the next generation of work spaces,” Kalasapudi said.
“In addition to high quality, we wanted headsets that
offered flexibility and could plug and play across the Cisco
product suite.”
Finally, the Cisco IT team wanted a headset solution that
easily transitioned to the mobile user, enabling people to
use the same headsets even when they were working
remotely.
After looking at a variety of solutions, the IT team selected
Jabra products because its wide range of solutions, from
the Jabra BIZ™ 2400-series to the Jabra PRO ™ 9400-series,
provides a headset for multiple needs.
Within the last eight months, between 20 and 30 members
of the Cisco IT team have transitioned to the Jabra solution
– with superior results across the enterprise. Cisco employees
can easily order Jabra products using an internal ordering
tool on their intranet. In recent months, the IT team
added Jabra to its recommendation for all of the company’s
headsets so users can experience exceptional audio performance
and enhanced productivity.
“Thanks to Jabra, we are able to provide our internal
customers – our colleagues – with a higher level of service
by being able to focus solely on their needs without the
distraction of hearing other conversations,” Kalasapudi
said. “The ergonomics are very good, the headsets are soft
and comfortable and, most importantly, we have received
positive feedback on the noise cancellation compared to
some of the previous solutions.”
CUSTOMER
Cisco
WEBSITE
www.cisco.com
COUNTRY
Global
INDUSTRY
IT
PROFILE
Incorporated in 1984, Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco), the worldwide
leader in networking for the Internet, has a robust internal IT
organization responsible for responding to the technology needs
of its large employee base.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Cisco’s IT department receives hundreds of calls each day from
Cisco employees around the world in need of support on various
IT issues from remote connectivity to basic hardware issues with
laptops. Working in an open space in its California headquarters,
often proved to be less than ideal as people (on both ends) could
often hear multiple conversations at once.
PHONE SYSTEM
Cisco Unified Communications
JABRA SOLUTION
Jabra BIZ™ 2400,
Jabra PRO ™ 9400-series,
Jabra UC Voice,
Jabra Supreme UC, Jabra GO 6400-series
BUSINESS BENEFITS
- Elevated internal (customer) service levels through higher
call quality, elimination of background noise
- Increased employee satisfaction through better ergonomics
from the headsets
- Enhanced productivity through faster calls, freed up time to
focus on customer issues (rather than internal IT)
- Better mobility through the easy transition to mobile usage