Westfield streamlines communications with desktop video

As the largest retail property group in the world, Westfield’s growth was outpacing the capacity of its telecommunications infrastructure...

The Westfield Group is a vertically integrated shopping centre company undertaking ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, property management, leasing & marketing activities and employing in excess of 4,000 staff worldwide.

Westfield has investment interests in 130 shopping centres in four countries (the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK), with a total value in excess of A$48 billion (it is the largest retail property group in the world by equity market capitalisation).

The company’s telecommunications system is used by approximately 700 users, with the number of remote users continuing to grow.

Recently, Westfield's rapid growth within Australia and overseas found its existing telecommunications infrastructure wasn’t up to the job. “Our PABX was getting old and running out of capacity,” said Peter Bourke, Australia and New Zealand IT Director at Westfield. “In fact, we only had limited extensions left.”

The company had to decide whether to attempt an upgrade of its existing PABX system or move to the next generation in telecommunications – IP telephony.

“Our telephony system had been in place for a number of years,” says Bourke, “and was running out of capacity as our business grew. We decided to invest in new technology embodying VOIP for delivery of our telephony and video systems.”

Westfield was also mindful of future growth Bourke says and so opted for a “scalable system” based around Cisco technology.

Fortunately, Westfield was well prepared to make this transition. In 2001, network and technology integrator IBM had designed and implemented an Australia-wide data network that extended to some 42 Westfield locations.

This provided a platform on which the retail management giant could add new services such as IP Communications as they became available and the need arose.

“Westfield’s forward thinking in installing the open platform certainly paid off when the company’s PABX started running out of steam,” says implementer Bob Lefebvre. “They already had the foundation technology in place—in the form of an IP network—which could support data, voice and video.”

Integrated IP Communications system
Beginning in March 2005, IBM migrated nearly 700 telephones at Westfield’s head office to an IP Communications system.

The new system can deliver voice, video and data to any point on its network with an IP-enabled handset or laptop.

The company is now rolling out IP Communications to its shopping centres around Australia.

The system is based on technology from Cisco Systems and includes:

• Cisco Systems Call Manager
• Cisco Unity unified messaging system
• IPCC Express contact centre application
• Cisco VT Advantage IP-video system
• Cisco 7912, 7940, 7960 and 7970 colour touch-screen phones.

Impressive ROI and ongoing savings
Sending voice, video and data over a single network eliminates the need to build and support two or three different systems in parallel.

IBM integrated the IP Communications system with Westfield’s Active Directory authentication services, HR databases and email system.

When a new staff member joins the company and is added to the HR database, they are now automatically issued with a login, security ID, phone number, email mailbox and voice mail. These tasks would previously have been handled separately and manually. The result has been measurable return on investment Bourke says.

“Our investment in IP Communications was chosen to be consistent with our global technology strategy, and to deliver rapid return on investment. This decision was in line with our focus on using technology to deliver business solutions; in both an operational and financial sense.”

Increased flexibility and functionality
The IP Communications system is particularly helpful for the company’s top executives who spend a great deal of time travelling between offices.

Once staff log onto the network at any Westfield office, their phone number, email and voice mail automatically follow them.

The new system also allows desktop-to-desktop video conferencing using video-capable handsets or notebook computers. Initiating a video conference is as easy as making a phone call: the system determines if both ends of the conversation are video capable and if so, establishes a video link.

“As Westfield bring new shopping centres or offices online, they can deliver services directly from head office rather than needing a PABX at each site,” said Lefebvre. “All the services can be delivered & managed from the central office, reducing the cost associated with supporting multiple remote phone systems.”

The flexibility of the new solution was recently demonstrated when Westfield upgraded the systems of one of its shopping centres in Queensland. Despite a delay getting services connected by the telecommunications carrier, the shopping centre was able to temporarily connect to the corporate system using an off-the-shelf business broadband connection.

Why IBM?
IBM’s extensive technical experience in IP telephony and its long association with Westfield were key factors in its selection as Westfield’s technology partner for this project. “Cerulean adds value to the technology vision and strategy that's in place at Westfield,” says Bourke.

“They've taken the time to understand our needs by focusing on the organisation and our business processes. We've had a good relationship for five years and the vision of streamlined communications based on leading-edge technologies has always been a part of it.”

For more information
www.Westfield.com/corporate/about

IBM
www-07.ibm.com/businesscenter/au/istart/index.html

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