Download New NeTwork INfrAsTrucTure eNerGIzes İGDAŞ SİSTAŞ

Case study • Energy and Utilities
SøSTAù
New network infrastructure energizes İGDAŞ
with better customer s e rv i c e , i m p r o v e d c o m m u n i cat i o n s
and e asie r managem e nt
Turkey’s leading natural gas distribution company completely rebuilds its voice and data
communication network using Alcatel-Lucent technology
A public utility company thrives on good communication. To optimize
both voice and data communications with staff and customers, Turkey’s
biggest natural gas distributor, İGDAŞ, decided to build a completely new
IP network and call center using Alcatel-Lucent’s innovative products.
Case study • Energy and Utilities
C ha lle ng e s
Get rid of multi-brand installed equipment base
that makes infrastructure hard to manage
Ensure the same service in every node
Increase accessibility to customers
Improve telephone infrastructure efficiency
S o l u t io n
IP telephone and data network based on
İGDAŞ (İstanbul Gaz Dağıtım AŞ) is Turkey’s leading natural
gas distribution company. Approximately 13,500 kilometers of
pipelines bring fuel to about 3.7 million domestic users and
1,300 industrial customers, making İGDAŞ one of the world’s
biggest natural gas distributors. About 2,300 employees in
77 locations serve customers in both the European and the
Asian sides of the city. The company’s ambition is to succeed
as a national leader and a world-renowned brand, thanks to its
knowledge and experience. In addition to its energy distribution
responsibilities, İGDAŞ is also concerned with social and
environmental issues. For example, the company wants to
dramatically improve the air quality in Istanbul – a priority that
is clearly demonstrated by the motto ‘Sky Friendly’.
Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise
Guaranteed uptime thanks to high redundancy level
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista 4760 to facilitate
management of the telephony system
Possibility to use Unified Communications systems
New contact center based on Alcatel-Lucent
Genesys technology
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
B en e fit s
Efficient voice and data network leads to efficient
communication
Voice communications costs are reduced with IP telephony
High level of accessibility ensures high level of
customer service
Centrally-managed system allows better management
and maintenance
Wireless data and voice communications in a number of
sites increases staff mobility
Significant room for growth
Towards a harmonious network
Since its start in 1986, İGDAŞ has grown expansively. Its IT
infrastructure continuously developed over the years, but without
any real consistency in the technology used. All 77 nodes used
equipment (e.g. PBXs, switches and hubs) from different brands,
resulting in a disarray of solutions that did not work well together.
“Our telephone network really needed to be optimized,” says
Avni Cebi, IT Manager at İGDAŞ. “For example, to call other
offices of our company, our employees had to use the public
telephone network. Furthermore, it was very hard to manage the
telephone system because there was no central application that
could control the PBXs and network switches. On top of that,
there was hardly any back-up equipment.”
What’s more, there was no proper call center equipment
available. Customers had difficulty contacting İGDAŞ, and the
management system used was outdated, making it impossible
to track even basic data, such as the number of missed calls.
To solve all these problems, İGDAŞ decided to start afresh with
a completely new and harmonious IP network and call center.
“What matters most in a big project like
this, is bringing the right companies and
the right products together. If you can’t do
that, the project will fail no matter how
good the individual products or people are.
With Alcatel-Lucent, Sistaş and Microsoft we
had the perfect partners to deliver results.”
Avni Cebi, IT manager İGDAŞ
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Alcatel-Lucent
İGDAŞ, Istanbul, Turkey
Case study • Energy and Utilities
E x t re me ly fas t im ple m e ntatio n
İGDAŞ had already used Alcatel-Lucent equipment in the
past, and was very satisfied with those solutions. However, as
a subsidiary company of the municipality of Istanbul, İGDAŞ
was required to issue a tender for this large-scale project. Many
suppliers submitted proposals, but Alcatel-Lucent gave the
best guarantees for both the quality of the solution and for the
timing. “Sistaş, Alcatel-Lucent’s local Business Partner, promised
to complete the roll-out of the new infrastructure in just four
months,” says Avni Cebi. “This is very impressive, especially when
you consider that just shipping the equipment to Turkey takes
up half of this time. But Sistaş and our own IT staff collaborated
extremely well, and after a lot of hard work they managed to
install the system within the agreed period.”
R e d u n da n t s ys tem guarantees
ma x i mu m u p t i me
The heart of the telephony and data network solution consists
of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX™ Enterprise. Data network
consists of 2 backbone switches and 4000 ports PoE edge switches
as well as 200 wifi access points. Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX™
Enterprise system installed for the telephony solution has a
capacity for 3000 IP phones and 100 wifi phones. This reliable
communications system allows İGDAŞ to use IP for both voice
and data traffic throughout the company. To assure the highest
level of uptime, İGDAŞ chose to upgrade the Alcatel-Lucent
OmniPCX Enterprise solution with 4 redundant Appliance
Servers and 43 Passive Communication Servers. The system is
also future-proof thanks to enhanced Unified Communications
The Alcatel-Lucent equipment
dramatically improves
communications at İGDAŞ.
capabilities, including the Telephony Services and Teamwork
Services applications. Furthermore, Alcatel-Lucent also delivered
the network switches, telephones and even the wireless access
points that have been introduced in a number of sites.
“This project was a big challenge for us, because the tight
timeframe required a perfect planning,” says Mehmet Gülen,
Technical Coordinator of Sistaş. “But thanks to the excellent
cooperation with both Alcatel-Lucent and İGDAŞ we managed to
deliver the solution in time. One of the big advantages of working
with Alcatel-Lucent is that they offer a portfolio of high-quality
data, voice, WiFi and contact center equipment that can be easily
combined. This considerably facilitated the implementation.”
To complete the implementation, an Alcatel-Lucent Genesys
Call Center solution was implemented, in order to meet
the customers’ demands for better accessibility. It consists of
45 inbound and 5 outbound connections, a 30-port Genesys
Voice Platform Server and a 30-port Verint Voice over
IP Recording Server.
To facilitate the work of the operators in the contact center,
İGDAŞ decided to expand the possibilities of the Genesys
Call Center with Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM. “The real-time
integration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the Genesys
Alcatel-Lucent
İGDAŞ, Istanbul, Turkey
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Case study • Energy and Utilities
telephony solution maximizes the productivity of each agent,” says
Cetin Ipecki, Group Manager of Microsoft Business Solutions,
Turkey. “With a single agent desktop that ‘screen pops’ detailed
customer information, agents are better prepared to easily and
seamlessly handle customer interactions. In addition, the direct
integration between Microsoft Dynamics CRM with email, fax
and SMS further supports improved customer communications.”
Bet t e r c u s tom er s e rv ice ,
ea si e r m an ag e me nt
The Alcatel-Lucent equipment has dramatically improved
communications in İGDAŞ. “With the old infrastructure, we
had a hard time contacting employees at our company’s various
sites. Now, every employee has a 4-digit number that identifies
him or her individually,” says Avni Cebi. “We don’t need to use
the public telephone network anymore. This has considerably
decreased our communications costs.”
The introduction of wireless access points at some of İGDAŞ’
sites has also increased mobility. Some employees use WiFi
handsets and notebooks to experience total freedom of
movement within the companies’ premises. In this way, they can
be reached at any time.
The new implementation has facilitated management and
maintenance of the voice and data infrastructure with the
OmniVista™ 4760 Network Management for Enterprise IP
Telephony, which allows central control of the IP network.
All PBXs now work together like one big exchange, thus making
updating easier.
It isn’t only İGDAŞ staff who benefit from the Alcatel-Lucent
equipment, but the customers as well. The contact center and the
‘Gas Emergency Line’ can now be reached more easily and offer
better service, thanks to additional features such as conference
calls and increased tracking possibilities. “This streamlined way
of working results in better customer service with less staff,” says
Avni Cebi. “We handle an average of 3000-3500 customer calls
every day. Before we had a proper call center, it was impossible
to handle this amount of calls in a structured way. Now it’s not
causing us problems anymore. The most common reaction I
have heard from our employees is: ‘This system greatly facilitates
communication, why didn’t we use it sooner?’ This demonstrates
the enthusiasm existing in the company for the Alcatel-Lucent
solution. In fact, what matters most in a big project like this,
is bringing the right companies and the right products together.
If you can’t do that, the project will fail no matter how good the
individual products or people are. With Alcatel-Lucent, Sistaş and
Microsoft we had the perfect partners to deliver results.”
B ig growth potential
Avni Cebi sees a lot of growth potential in the new infrastructure.
“We are only starting to discover the possibilities of the
equipment. Every day brings us new insights into its use.
We began by sticking to our old habits, but now we’re starting
to evolve. The system actually exceeds our expectations.
Unified Communications possibilities are a good example:
we have seen that combining voice, fax, email and other
communication media dramatically improves our way of
working, but it will take quite some time to train all our people –
both technical staff and other employees.
In the near future, we want to explore the video features.
As we are one of the world’s biggest natural gas distribution
companies, quite a few people visit our sites to learn from
our infrastructure. Thanks to the Alcatel-Lucent equipment,
we shall be able to give them an interesting tour.”
SøSTAù
B usiness Partner info
Alcatel-Lucent Premium Business Partner Sistaş is one of
Turkey’s prime telecom vendors and installers. For over
25 years, Sistaş has been offering telecommunications
consultancy and full project implementation services
to a wide range of customers, from government and
educational institutions to hotels, call centers and large
multinationals. From its offices in Ankara, Istanbul,
İzmir and Antalya, Sistaş offers industrial and business
telecommunication solutions, including integrated voice
and data networks, IP Telephony, unified communications
and contact center solutions.
www.alcatel-lucent.com
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owners. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information presented, which is subject to change without notice.
Pictures : Alcatel-Lucent – Design: Living Stone – Content: Living Stone 04/2008 – All rights reserved © 2008 Alcatel-Lucent.
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Alcatel-Lucent
İGDAŞ, Istanbul, Turkey