Watford FC (WFC) were moving into new offices along with opening a new club shop at the same time. Having 4 separate sites provided the problem of having staff working across multiple sites who needed to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently. The club needed a solution that could be as flexible as the business had to be.
The Football Club approached The Project Network (TPN) to provide a fully managed solution to solve the problem of having multiple sites. TPN installed Europe’s first 10GB Stadium network using Cisco hardware so needed a partner who could provide voice as part of the solution.
James Barton of The Project Network comments: “As a Premier Cisco Partner, and an organisation that very much matched the ethos of The Project Network and Watford FC, the solution provided by Node4 was the obvious choice to make.”
Node4 were approached by TPN to deliver an end-to-end hosted voice solution for over 175 users across all 4 sites based on Cisco hardware. Watford FC found that the Cisco CallManager solution featured all of the characteristics that they required and were impressed by Node4’s fully managed service and end-to-end solution.
The solution delivered to the football club by Node4 included a Hosted Cisco CallManager with all the features which is hosted in Node4’s Data Centre with a PSTN breakout. An IPFX Reception Console and Auto Attendant was built into the solution to add benefits to the solution such as detailed caller information, comprehensive transfer and messaging controls. Cisco telephones were also provided by Node4 along with number porting meaning that Watford FC could retain their existing numbers. The connectivity between the sites and the central Data Centre was also provided by Node4 with their QoS enabled broadband network.
Watford FC now have an extremely flexible solution allowing users to seamlessly roam between all four sites and their telephony functions and settings simply follow. The whole solution is hosted in Node4’s Data Centre which provides the highest levels of availability, and is managed by the Node4 on-site technical support team allowing Watford FC to concentrate on their core business activities.
Katie Wareham, Head of New Projects at Watford FC enthuses: “We now have modern phones, and a very flexible solution. Users can roam between all four of our sites, and the telephony just follows them around….it is so simple, yet incredibly effective. Given we are only a month in, it is very hard to say exactly, but we are looking to save approximately 35% over the first year with this new solution.”
Over the next few months Node4 and The Project Network will continue to work together with Watford FC to add call queuing facilities to the solution along with adding telephony functionality in corporate boxes at the ground.
Andrew Gilbert, Managing Director Node4: “This project had demonstrated our unique position and ability to deliver an end-to-end hosted communications solution. As a high profile football club, Watford FC had some specific requirements and pressing time scales which Node4 were able to fulfil working alongside The Project Network. We at Node4 are looking forward to build on these successful relationships with Watford FC and The Project Network in the coming years.”