Cunningham Lindsey

Outclass competition with new network

Area of operation: Insurance

Founded: 1998

Number of sites: 45

Technology implemented:

• comUnity Data
  –  managed WAN
• comUnity Voice
• comUnity View
• comUnity Video
• comUnity Wi-Fi

Key benefits:

• WAN and internet performance improvements
• Substantial savings
• Improved productivity and performance
• Competitive advantage

Cunningham Lindsey is one of the largest loss adjusting and claims management companies in the world. The business demands high-quality communications and the ability to quickly get teams up and running in parts of the country which have often suffered significant damage. Regardless of size, scope and location the Cunningham response teams must manage loss adjustment and claim management quickly and efficiently following severe weather events each year.

A Complex Set of Challenges

Cunningham Lindsey were faced with numerous challenges including very lean IT; national ageing PABX & phone systems; a myriad of suppliers for numerous support touch points; multiple contracts and vendors; and a network that wouldn’t meet the demands of the company’s growing customer base.

“The difficulty of managing numerous systems, contracts and vendors, and over 40 PABXs across the country meant our IT team was often distracted fire-fighting issues as opposed to focusing on the activities aimed at meeting client requirements. We had numerous single points of failure and if one element was overlooked – the results could be disastrous,” said Brian Kable, National IT Manager.

Cunningham Lindsey sought a single-supplier who could provide an end-to-end managed service that would deliver key benefits including reducing the number of failure points across the business, provide a national phone system, and an improved WAN network that offered greater data capacity and quality, creating cost reductions.

With these objectives in mind, Kable ran an informal tender process. This process gave prospective suppliers the opportunity to ask the right questions, gain an understanding of the Cunningham Lindsey business, and present a compelling argument for how they could best meet the organisation’s requirements.

“I wanted to be assured that the supplier selected could deliver a true partnership arrangement. We chose Enablis as they genuinely took the time to understand the needs of our business. You could see their solution was customised for us and alleviated numerous challenges. Their recommendations were sensible and looked right for us.” said Kable.

Enablis’ comUnity® platform

Enablis were able to remove the headaches of a disjointed communications estate and introduce their ground-breaking comUnity® platform. Delivering a solid foundation for a converged data/voice network, Cunningham Lindsey were able to streamline efficiencies with an enterprise-grade infrastructure whilst also significantly reducing operational costs.

By having an optimised data infrastructure, Cunningham Lindsey were able to take advantage of the greater bandwidth capabilities. “The ability to deliver greater bandwidth has laid the foundation for significant system improvements nationwide.” said Kable.

Enablis paired the data service with comUnity® Voice providing Cunningham Lindsey with a standard user interface for voice and collaboration tools across the organisation. In addition to high-definition voice, comUnity® Voice has built-in disaster recovery which was an important aspect for Cunningham Lindsey.

“We chose this system as we needed something robust and reliable, but still had flexibility to handle future growth. By replacing our legacy phone systems with IP telephone handsets and video phones, we were able to have a unified communications system, which has already increased staff productivity and engagement.

Demonstrating value through improved productivity

“Enablis were able to demonstrate how they could add more value to our business. They showed how we could achieve further cost reductions and improve productivity using collaboration tools, with state-of-the-art video conferencing capabilities. They also showed how they could securely deliver Wi-Fi.

“Enablis loaned us a Wi-Fi unit to trial during the QLD floods. The impact of the floods brought logistical issues, but with this device, these were minimised, if not completely removed. Our response team was able to connect to the network and start processing almost immediately – meaning that there was no delay added to our client response capability, as would typically be expected in such a challenging situation. Helping us achieve such a significant competitive advantage and level of service proved that Enablis did understand our business. It was an understanding that provided immediate benefits. So, we added this service and rolled out Enablis’ comUnity® Wi-Fi solution to all of our offices. The difference has been amazing,” said Kable.

All of these services are closely monitored through Eanblis’ comUnity® View platform, allowing Cunningham Lindsey the ability to view, control and manage the communication estate from one convenient portal.

Jon Evans, Enablis, Managing Director said, “Our comUnity® platform provides companies with total control and unifies their communication estate. Cunningham Lindsey excel at providing loss adjusting and claims management services. Our job is to add value to their business by enhancing their communication services and removing the burden of managing a large distributed communications estate. This frees up their IT team to focus on more strategic projects that drive competitive advantage.”