As time goes by...

Our long-standing customers, some of whom have been with us for many years and some more recent, such as leading law firm BPE, are certainly a key part of our success. The commercial law firm operates in the South West and the Midlands offering a full range of legal services, placing their clients’ needs at the heart of their business. In this case study they reflect on their Total experience over the years.

BPE Solicitors became a Total customer in May 2003, following a BlackBerry data trial. The main driver behind the trial and subsequent decision to implement BlackBerry was to enable solicitors to keep in contact with the office and with clients, whilst they were out on the road and between offices. Indeed as dependence on email, particularly with clients, has increased, being able to use email when out of the office has proved a huge benefit ensuring client care and communication is optimised.

Allie Birch, Facilities Officer at BPE, says: ‘Our decision to implement BlackBerry early on has been a key factor in meeting our clients’ needs. Our usage has changed since the beginning in that we now have more people using devices, particularly since the introduction of the BlackBerry Pearl. The handset has seen us switch from a separate mobile phone and BlackBerry to one small and easy to use device. This has not only saved us money but has meant that communicating with clients is more convenient and quicker.’’

Over the years, BPE has also moved its fixed line services to Total. Oli Restorick, IT Manager at BPE, explains why: ‘Initially we used Total for mobiles and BlackBerry only. Then when we were disappointed with the service given by our existing fixed line supplier, Total were an obvious choice due to the good experience they gave with the mobile and data provision and the added bonus of them being local to us.’

In the last five years BPE has seen Total grow and experienced first-hand many of the changes that the company has put in place in order to enhance customers’ experience. Allie agrees: ‘Whilst Total has grown and expanded over the years, their service offering hasn’t suffered. We still feel that we receive good support from them, their response times are excellent and the fact that they are local is of great benefit to us when hardware needs to be swapped out. The recent additions of online facilities, such as YourView have been a real asset, as we can now access more detailed and flexible billing options.’

Looking ahead to the next ten years BPE feel phone networks and data networks will converge, VoIP will be mature and the traditional phone system will be replaced by software running on the same platform as the rest of the IT system. Oli adds: ‘We feel confident that as technology advances Total will continue to offer us solutions that suit our needs, along with first-rate customer care.’