Railway engineering consultancy moves full steam ahead with
mobile working solution from Cobweb Solutions
- Uninterrupted secure access to email facilitates flexible
working -
Bellwether specialises in engineering and technical consulting
for the railway industry. Structured as an officeless
company, Bellwether has nine employees—all of whom work
from their homes, connecting to one another using broadband
Internet connections and a secure virtual private network
(VPN).
Initially Bellwether used a POP3 e-mail service from an Internet
service provider (ISP) but was not satisfied with the ISP’s e-mail
back-up or security capabilities. Seeking stronger support and
messaging features such as calendaring, shared contacts, and
improved Web access, Bellwether brought its business to Cobweb
Solutions. The new solution has significantly increased
Bellwether staff productivity and helped the firm win the
DTI Sponsored Best Use of Teleworking award in the UK e-Commerce
Awards for the last two years running.
The Challenge
The word bellwether means one that serves as a leader or a
leading indicator of future trends. UK-based Bellwether Enterprises
lives up to its name through its innovative business model:
It’s a company with no office.
Formed in 1998 after the privatisation of British
Rail, Bellwether specializes in railway engineering and technical
consulting. The company delivers systems engineering, risk
assessment, safety management, and asset management solutions for
customers
in Europe and around the globe.
Bellwether is owned by its employees, funds its growth by
reinvesting profits back into the business, and distributes 10
percent of its after-tax profits to charitable organizations.
When Bellwether’s founders set up the company, they decided
against having a central office. That way, staff members could
spend less time in daily commute and have more time to work from
home, on the road, or at a client location. This business model
required IT systems that offered maximum connectivity for the
workforce while providing a secure network for the
company.
Each consultant has a high-end laptop computer and a mobile
phone. At home they have broadband Internet connections, and, while
traveling, they can log on to public wireless hotspots. By
using electronic forms instead of paper whenever
possible, Bellwether is able to lower costs and speed workflow
within the company.
Bellwether has one monthly, in-person staff meeting. The rest
of the time staff members stay connected primarily through
email messages. Sue Schreiber, Marketing Manager at
Bellwether, explains, "As a virtual organisation, email is the
backbone of our organisation. It’s what keeps us connected on a
daily basis—both internally and with our clients."
Initially, the staff used a POP3–based e-mail system provided
by a local ISP, but they were dissatisfied with the
back-up and security capabilities. The solution did not
enable consultants to collaborate and share information the way
they wanted because it lacked calendaring and shared contact
features. To collaborate on projects, the staff used a separate
document-sharing system from British Telecom, and that system was
slow and had a cumbersome interface.
The Solution
Many Bellwether staff members came from large companies that
used the Microsoft® Office Outlook® messaging and collaboration
client and Microsoft Exchange Server. They missed the
calendaring, shared contacts, and information-sharing
capabilities these Microsoft technologies provide. So Bellwether
explored the following email options involving Microsoft Exchange
Server:
- Deploy and maintain its own server
- Deploy its own server and outsource the maintenance
- Buy licenses from an application service provider that offers a
hosted service built on Exchange
Staff members chose the third option because it was the most
cost efficient. This option was also easier for their
virtual office structure because Bellwether would not have
to deal with housing a server.
Cobweb provides Bellwether with an outsourced messaging
service based on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system
and Exchange Server 2003—both of which are part of Microsoft
Windows Server System integrated
server software. Cobweb delivers advanced email
| “We turned to Cobweb Solutions
for its hosted service because we did not have the
time or resources to manage our IT requirements. Using
Cobweb’s hosted service we can share information, calenders,
contacts and email wherever we are in the world
from a range of mobile devices, all without fear of spam or viruses
corrupting the data. It also means we can send large, complex
technical documents and diagrams, with the reassurance that they
will not bounce back or be lost.”
Graeme
Lloyd-Roberts,
Technical Director,
Bellwether
|
|
and collaboration services, including shared calendars and contact
lists, public folders, and more. Cobweb also provides Bellwether
with its own email domain as well as user
authentication
and validation services provided by the Microsoft Active
Directory® directory service in Windows Server 2003.
"Our professionalism depends on quality e-mail communication,"
says Schreiber. "Cobweb provides a reliable email service and has a
very good support organisation. They can explain
IT in a way that makes sense to me in my business."
All Bellwether consultants have Microsoft Windows XP
Professional and Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 on their laptops,
enabling them to synchronise their laptops with
the information on the server systems running the hosted Exchange
solution. In this way, Bellwether consultants can continue to refer
to their messages and schedules even if they’re not online.
"Our workers are offline most of the time
because they are often at customer sites where they don’t have much
email access. Or there may be security issues that prevent them
from using the system," explains Schreiber. "So for us, technology
that cannot be used offline is not even usable."
Benefits
Bellwether has been recognised for its innovative use of
technology, winning the regional Best Use of Teleworking award at
the 2004 and 2005 National E-Commerce Awards run
by the Department of Trade and Industry and InterForum, a
not-for-profit organisation that helps British businesses trade
electronically.
"A company with this structure would not have been possible
even 5 years ago," says Schreiber. "However, developments in
technology such as Hosted Exchange and the widespread availability
of broadband wireless networks and mobile phones mean that
we are not constrained by the lack of physical
offices. We can easily work with each other across the
Internet."
Increase productivity while lowering costs
By not having an office, Bellwether saves an estimated
£50,000 annually, enabling the company to pass on lower
rates to clients. The company also saves travel-related costs by
having virtual meetings. Consultants can work more billable hours
because they don’t have daily commutes. Yet the company can attract
high caliber consultants who may be looking for more flexible hours
and the ability to work at home.
"Using Hosted Exchange has enabled us to increase our
productivity and keep our costs down; thus, making
the business more efficient and increasing the value we can deliver
to our clients," says Schreiber.
Enhance competitive edge with enterprise-class tools
A highly professional messaging and communications vehicle is
a necessity in the consulting business. This hosted solution
enables Bellwether to compete successfully against huge
engineering firms that have sophisticated internal
messaging systems. "The Hosted Exchange solution gives our staff
members all of the messaging and collabo-ration tools that a large
company would have, so we are able to be as professional as any
other company," says Sue Schreiber, Marketing Manager at
Bellwether. "Our colleagues particularly like the Web access of
this solution—that was the capability people commented on
most."
By having its own domain, Bellwether has a professional online
presence. The ability to share contact information through the
Hosted Exchange solution is also important because the company
doesn’t have a sales force. "Sharing contact information and
keeping the contact information accurate is critical for our
future," comments Schreiber.
The hosted solution also gives Bellwether the IT support it
needs. Schreiber explains, "Most of our staff members are
technically savvy, but they don’t have the time or
energy to sort out all of the technology issues on their
own. Working with Cobweb, we feel we have pieced together a sound,
supportable, and afford-able solution that is configured to our
specific business needs and culture. For us, it’s about maintaining
professionalism. We don’t want to have to think about the technical
details to achieve this goal."
Save money with affordable technology that fits business
needs
Bellwether appreciates the fact that it can buy affordable
Hosted Exchange licenses from Cobweb and easily add new
Exchange accounts as they add consultants to accommodate
the fluctuating workload.
"Our operation is very budget-driven. We use Hosted Exchange
because it is affordable and delivers the professional capabilities
we need," says Schreiber. "Originally, we thought that Hosted
Exchange would be an interim solution that we could start with and
see if it suited us. Then if we needed to get our own server, we
could do that at a later stage. But we are more than
happy to stick with what we’ve got. We are still operating
without an office and have expanded ten-fold since our founding—so
we have achieved our objectives. Hosted Exchange has been a big
part of our success."
In Partnership With
