Sims Metal Management Europe Case Study

Smoothing the Path to Faster Growth Customer Case Study

Cisco Unified Communications strategy speeds integration and optimizes operations for global recycling giant Sims

Challenge EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Founded in Australia almost a century ago, Sims Metal Management has grown into Customer Name: Sims Metal the world’s largest metals and electronics recycler. Expansion is driven by rapid Management Europe strategic acquisition and consolidation, spreading across the Asia Pacific region and Industry: Recycling Europe into North America. Sims has over 70 recycling plants in Europe; more than Location: UK 50 are based in cities large and small in the U.K. Number of Employees: 6500 worldwide A U.K. subsidiary, Sims Recycling Solutions, was launched in 2002 to process scrap Challenge refrigerators and today handles a wide range of used electronics. These diverse • Scalable and flexible voice services operations are facilitated by a managed multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) to accommodate rapid business network incorporating two data centers: one hosting business applications, the other expansion for disaster recovery. • Manage communications across multiple European sites from central The company had ample experience of the value of Cisco technologies including U.K. location Cisco firewalls and a Cisco Borderless Network platform connecting around a • Accelerate upgrade and integration of dozen offices over a corporate VPN for secure business communications. Yet its newly-acquired companies policy of rapid expansion through acquisitions was hampered by the complexities Solution of integrating them. They were often equipped with outdated private branch • Cisco Collaboration applications exchanges, and the end result was an IT estate that was becoming more complex running over a Cisco Borderless and less agile. Network “Whenever we installed new equipment, we were mindful that the system needed to • Cisco Unified Contact Center Express scale, not for 12 months, but for a three-to-five-year timeframe,” says Kevin Bray, • Cisco Smart Care support group network manager at Sims Metal Management Europe. “We also needed to be Results able to react much faster in terms of provisioning new users and services.” • Effective collaboration between teams, regardless of location or time zone Solution • Centralized coordination of agent The company’s IT team is highly compact. With just three people supporting 1200 staffing needs along with improved call users and more than 130 servers, it relies heavily on third-party support. Keen to handling move this outsourcing strategy to the next level, Sims was looking for a partner with • Increased customer satisfaction and proven expertise in Cisco® Unified Communications technologies. savings in time and money

“Our Cisco phone system is The goal was to provide onsite and remote technical support services from the highly scalable. We used to U.K. for both U.K. and European sites, as well as helping the company transform its have to work on a site-by- customer service centers. Nettitude, the chosen partner, would help Sims refresh its telephony system, upgrade software on key network appliances across Europe, and site basis, and integration provide guaranteed response times for dealing with network repairs or performance was very time consuming. issues, as well as offering ongoing strategic advice and planning support. With our centralized Cisco “With Nettitude, we now have a strong partnership covering both IT support and system, however, we can the provision of new systems,” Bray says. “We greatly value its Cisco expertise now scale across multiple through its helpdesk, coupled with speed of deployment for new client sites and sites without any of the technologies.” associated growing pains.” Although the majority of sites are recycling plants in provincial towns, which do not generate intensive telephone traffic, Sims has a higher concentration of staff at its Kevin Bray corporate offices in Stratford-upon-Avon, together with a contact center in Daventry Group Network Manager and the largest recycling center in Europe at Newport Docks. Sims Metal Management Europe The first step was to install Cisco Unified Contact Center Express. This state-of- the-art virtual contact center sits on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager platform, hosted on a Cisco 7825 Media Convergence Server and running over the Cisco Borderless Network infrastructure. Providing an integrated contact center in a box, it forms a highly secure and available customer interaction management solution supporting up to 400 agents.

The Cisco virtual contact center solution is backed by Cisco Smart Care, an award- winning support service that optimizes network performance through real time monitoring. A Cisco network appliance collects performance data and checks that everything is functioning securely and efficiently. This capability gives the Cisco partner and the Sims IT team a dashboard providing visibility of any problems before they become business-affecting.

Results One of the key benefits of the new solution is the ability to scale the telephone system quickly to keep pace with rapid business growth. For instance, the company was simultaneously able to upgrade underperforming legacy telephone systems at six sites in a single step. The underlying platform provided by the Cisco Unified Communications Manager makes it much easier to optimize newly-acquired sites, simply by adding Cisco Unified IP Phones to bring them rapidly onto the system.

“We used to have to work on a site-by-site basis, and integration was very time consuming,” says Bray. “With our centralized Cisco system, however, we can scale across multiple sites without any of the associated growing pains.”

The company has transformed customer service and productivity. Call handling is managed smoothly across multiple sites, allowing Sims to balance agent staffing levels dynamically in relation to fast-changing business requirements. Staff working for the same department on different sites can be dynamically reassigned to match shifting workflow demands without their needing to physically move. Newly- programmed interactive voice response (IVR) scripts help Sims route calls across multiple sites by relevant skills or business function.

As a result, the number of dropped or abandoned calls has reduced significantly. Customer service has become more transparent and measurable. Call volumes, queuing times, and agent response data are all shown on large display screens.

“With Nettitude, we now Another big gain, saving time and money, is the introduction of the Cisco Unified have a strong partnership Communications Manager Directory. Whereas previously an Excel-based corporate covering both IT support directory was updated manually and distributed to all departments, the new shared directory can be instantly updated and searched. “At first, we thought this was just and the provision of new icing on the cake; but it’s made contacting people so much easier,” says Bray. “I systems. We greatly value can’t describe how invaluable it is.” its Cisco expertise through Finally, having a fully managed solution has released the company’s IT team to its helpdesk, coupled concentrate on planning and strategy. The Nettitude helpdesk prioritizes and with speed of deployment manages all employee requests. This service extends to helping out with network for new client sites and support and configuration tasks. technologies.”

Kevin Bray Group Network Manager Sims Metal Management Europe For More Information To learn more about Cisco Unified Contact Center Express and Cisco Smart Care Service, please click on the following links: www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/index.html www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7343/serv_group_home.html

Product List Unified Communications • Cisco Unified Communications Manager • Cisco Unified IP Phones 7942G • Cisco Media Convergence Server 7825 Customer Collaboration • Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Management and Support • Cisco Smart Care

Americas Headquarters Asia Pacific Headquarters Europe Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam, San Jose, CA Singapore The Netherlands

Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)