Migrating from Cisco to Microsoft Teams for Enhanced User Experience

For over six years, New Era has been a trusted service provider to a prominent legal firm renowned for its expertise in criminal defence. Recently, they approached us with a request to update their meeting rooms, aiming to meet and exceed the new user experience standards. Before the pandemic-induced lockdown, the firm had a Cisco strategy implemented in their meeting rooms, which we provided and supported through a combination of self-service and white-glove management, ensuring a top-notch user experience. However, with the shift in working patterns during lockdown, the meeting rooms saw reduced usage. As employees returned to the offices, it became evident that an upgraded service was essential.

Our Process:

Initially, we began the upgrade by installing new cameras and audio equipment. However, the client soon expressed their desire for further enhancements to deliver a more modern and superior user experience. They decided to adopt Microsoft Teams as their primary platform while also ensuring compatibility with other platforms.

The client’s criteria included ease of use, minimal training requirements, and high-quality video and audio capabilities. New Era implemented ‘pilot rooms’ at their London, Glasgow & Manchester office.

In delivering a fully certified native Microsoft Teams Room experience users were able to come back to the office and were immediately familiar with the meeting room technology in a workflow which they were used to and comfortable with.

Our comprehensive process commenced with design and discovery meetings followed by engineering surveys, to allow us to determine the most suitable technology based on the desired outcome, room sizes and environment.

New Era carefully planned and documented cable routing, accounted for room acoustics, considered the expected number of users in each room, and strategically placed furniture to optimise the camera and speaker positions and the project was delivered on time and within budget. Once handed over into business-as-usual support, New Era continues to maintain an ongoing support SLA with advanced parts replacement, engineer on site next business day with 24/7/365 ITIL service desk support all included as standard.

Current Situation:

The pilot rooms in London have successfully implemented the desired unified communication strategy, supporting hybrid working across their global offices. These upgraded meeting spaces have greatly improved connectivity between office-based employees, remote workers, and external partners and the deployment continues to grow with business demand.

Conclusion:

With 31 global offices in their network, our successful implementation in the London office has led us to continue our collaboration with this esteemed legal firm. We are committed to transforming their previous Cisco rooms into Microsoft Teams Rooms, ensuring high-quality meeting spaces. Additionally, we are onboarding them onto our Managed Service for Microsoft Teams, providing ongoing support and management to enhance their collaboration and communication capabilities.

Contact us to discover how we can help transform your AV spaces.