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By Ron Coates, 24 August 2004 17:35

NEWS Property services giant FPD Savills is moving into the VoIP world with an Avaya system installed by Azzuri Communications.

Steve Brooks, technical operations director for Savills, said: "We have always been leading edge in terms of technology for our industry. We wanted to have something that works – there are some immature systems out there - and one that would produce medium to long-term benefits."

The Avaya system currently serves around 450 staff in three London offices which largely deal with commercial surveying. Savills hopes to roll out the system to the rest of its London offices and use it as a basis for communications with all its 80 UK offices and 1,800 staff.

Brooks said: "It has the potential, with enhancements, to cover our European operations. We have some Blackberries and laptops but in five years' time with SPVs and so on, there will be intelligent mobiles all over the place. I think that this sort of system will be standard for small and medium-sized businesses and for the big corporations."

The Avaya system offers centralised operator services for the whole of the UK with computer telephony integration allowing dial from screen, screen popping and a central inbox for voice and emails. It currently has 500 IP handsets and a 25-user wireless VoIP system. Azzuri has a tight service level agreement to maintain the system.

Brooks is rolling out features in an incremental fashion because, as he says: "If you give them everything at once, you just lose them."