Cosam Developments Ltd

Cosam Developments Ltd (Cosam) is an international, multi-discipline consultancy practice serving the Life Science and Fine Chemical industries with comprehensive and practical expertise from strategic drug development through to commercialisation.

The majority of Cosam's business is located in the United States, India and China making overseas travel an integral part of working life. Reliable and robust internationally capable hardware was a pre-requisite as Steve Cracknell, Director at Cosam explains: ‘As a Pharmaceutical consultancy, the nature of our work means that we operate within rural provinces without a sturdy IT infrastructure, making us heavily reliant on our devices. Our previous handsets were unreliable; we sometimes went days without email which dramatically affected business continuity.'

With a new business to contend with and unforeseen issues along the way, the provider they originally chose quickly became more of a hindrance.

According to Steve: ‘We weren't overly concerned about cost, as it is relative, but the service we were receiving was very poor. Downloading documents, especially PDFs and spreadsheets, was time consuming and expensive and we were unable to synchronise our emails. Our handsets also broke a number of times and took a significant amount of time to replace.'

On top of this, the set up was not proving to be cost efficient. Cosam were told that they were receiving reduced rates but on a two year contract, their bills remained very expensive, averaging £800 per device each month.

 

A desire for quality of service and product eventually led Cosam to approach Total in order to find an alternative solution for their telecommunication requirements. Mark Griffiths, Director at Cosam says: ‘It is clear that Total work hard to differentiate themselves from other organisations and networks. Offering service that is head and shoulders above the competitors in the market, Total became our first port of call when deciding to search elsewhere.'

After thorough consultation, Total suggested Total Mobile Office; a hosted solution, which offers all the benefits of the full corporate BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, without the need for large capital expenditure or a hefty IT infrastructure or technical support.

Lorne Fry, Regional Sales Manager at Total Ltd explains: ‘Cosam was in need of a robust service and reliable hardware to ensure that remote working was consistent. However, like many small businesses, a corporate set up wasn't applicable due to their size. Our Total Mobile Office solution offers reliable, secure and supported, enterprise level email on the move, with full synchronisation; just what was required. As a hosted solution, Cosam can rest assured that they are in safe hands and instead of being preoccupied with technicalities, they now have the freedom to focus on work as their main priority.'

The set up of the new solution was simple and Total transferred all accounts and archived email. Both Steve and Mark were equipped with multiple accounts set up with mail forwarding to ensure seamless email synchronisation for business continuity. The nature of the business brought with it a pre-requisite for due diligence and so the security and encryption offered by BlackBerry made it a natural choice.

Steve adds: ‘Previously, I wasn't really aware of the differences between BlackBerry and other Smartphones and so I had never considered it as an option, but now I understand. BlackBerry devices are reliable, very simple to use and I have been pleasantly surprised by the extensive battery life. And when I happened to drop my BlackBerry into a pot of paint, I had a replacement by return!'

Total Mobile Office also allows for provision of static addresses. Thus, a Personal Assistant based in the UK has been granted access and is now able to organise meetings for the next trip, whilst the Principals are abroad, seamlessly allowing for effective time management.

The need for steadfast service whilst abroad was also actioned as Mark explains: ‘Now, when we are travelling internationally, our BlackBerry devices are consistent, automatically roaming on to the correct network and providing immediate email synchronisation. Document downloads are fast across all programmes and due to the fixed price offering from BlackBerry, I no longer need to worry about extortionate costs.'

Their last bill reduced their previous expenditure by around 70%, primarily due to the way in which BlackBerry utilises and charges for data, ensuring the issue of poor cost efficiency has also been resolved. ‘Total's online billing platform YourView is really helpful, allowing us to interrogate, split down and analyse our usage as much as we desire. We even get a call from a customer service advisor every six to eight weeks to ensure that everything is running smoothly.'

Whilst Cosam are content with their solution at the moment, they are pleased that in the future, Total Mobile Office will allow for expansion as and when they need it. Mark comments: ‘I would wholeheartedly recommend Total Mobile Office to other companies looking for a similar solution. If we grow in the future, we have the flexibility to add in additional accounts. The most important thing is reliability, teamed with service and the peace of mind that as a small organisation, we're not going to be let down. We are heavily reliant on our IT and when you're travelling in today's commercial world, you need a proven and reliable solution. For us, the combination of an exemplary service provider and good products provide exactly that; Total Mobile Office is a perfect fit.'