Nilfisk-Advance, a Danish cleaning equipment manufacturer operating globally, wanted to upgrade its outdated communications systems to reduce costs and promote smarter teamwork. It chose a unified communications solution from Siemens Enterprise Communications delivered as a managed service. This is providing state-of-the-art voice and collaboration tools through a single agreement and service level, while avoiding large upfront investments. The benefits include cheaper calls, improved global collaboration through videoconferencing, and faster project work, helping Nilfisk-Advance meet its goal of reducing travel costs by 12% annually.

1. Case Study
Nilfisk-Advance cuts cost
and boosts teamwork with
managed UC service
“Siemens Enterprise Communications’ project
management proposals stood out from the
competition. They had the capacity to handle the
roll-out, provide value for money and the most
credible project management strategy.”
Steen Andersen, IT director, Nilfisk-Advance
Summary
Nilfisk-Advance of Denmark is one of The solution The benefits
the pioneers of professional cleaning The company chose a unified State-of-the-art communications
equipment for industry and contract communications (UC) platform from One voice numbers and greater team
cleaning. With operations in 43 highly Siemens Enterprise Communications. This collaboration
competitive markets world-wide, the group is delivering state-of-the-art communications Faster global team working and simpler
has a strong ‘green’ commitment as a for Nilfisk-Advance through a managed project development
member of the Carbon Disclosure Project service agreement which, by its nature, Cheaper calls between regional
on carbon emissions reporting. provides central governance while ensuring company locations
that the group is not being drawn into Central governance and service
The task heavy capital investment and the long-term operation handled through a managed
Nilfisk-Advance wanted to drive corporate- integrations and maintenance issues service agreement: reduced operational
level efficiencies, reducing travel and promoting associated with it. complexity via a globally consistent SLA,
smarter team working across its global reduced service costs and a single point
operations, without being drawn into of contact for multi-vendor management
complex ICT/communications investment System transformation and the complete
and service management commitments programme financed from operating not
across many countries. capital expenditure
Communication for the open minded
Siemens Enterprise Communications
www.siemens-enterprise.com

2. About Nilfisk-Advance drive down these expenses while promoting Programme elements: The benefits programme. Regular staff skills training and
Founded in 1906 in Denmark, Nilfisk-Advance smarter working practices. Communications plan – how Nilfisk- Siemens Enterprise Communications’ onboarding sessions, are guided by the
(along with Hoover in the USA) is one of the Steen Andersen of Nilfisk-Advance explains Advance teams will implement and use UC delivery of UC as a managed service to implementation’s communications strand. In
pioneers of household cleaners. Today the the group stance: “Telephony wasn’t our core Network QoS (quality of service) Nilfisk-Advance has resulted in cost and addition, Nilfisk-Advance has brought out its
company manufactures a portfolio of high competence, so we didn’t want to make large WAN upgrade increasingly, collaboration benefits. own “How to use” internal guide for staff and
quality cleaning solutions for industry and scale infrastructure investments. We needed the Training and education invested in e-learning modules.
the professional cleaning sector. The Site audit and preparation The new platform runs on a mixture of VPN
right partner to design, manage and roll-out a lines and MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Steen Andersen explains: “We’ve found that
portfolio includes a wide range of road new system in each country and then centralise Technical plan: Siemens Enterprise
sweepers, floor cleaning machines, vacuum Communications project – the MPLS mainly provided for regional different age groups in the workforce have
things for us. We are a traditional industrial lines and for sites with high definition video different expectations. For Generation Y staff,
cleaners and high pressure washers. company – we operate on low margins.” Daily operations and procedures
governing all work conferencing. The complex technical challenges the telephone is just another piece of unified
The task Tailored solution have led the integration team to develop a communications software. However, we have
After decades of growth, the company became Siemens Enterprise Communications is Through regular reviews with Nilfisk- fixed concept for WAN and LAN upgrades as to educate older users on system capabilities,
environments world-wide. The single
part of engineering specialist NKT Group in meeting Nilfisk-Advance’s needs through Advance’s project teams, Siemens Enterprise each new country is brought into the service. such as encouraging them to use the web
agreement also means that all remote centres
1989. Operating in 43 countries and a global a managed service agreement for a fully Communications has been able to control meeting or chat functions. The options are
within Siemens Enterprise Communications’ Nilfisk-Advance country teams are enjoying
workforce of 5,000, the company had centralised UC solution based on: and benchmark a complex, multi-location impressive.”
global infrastructure operate to ITIL-based ‘one number’ voice capabilities as well as
maintained internal telecommunications integration programme.
processes, ensuring consistent service levels, integrated messaging and chat facilities. The
systems. However, it wanted to enhance these OpenScape Voice for 2500 users descriptions, enhanced escalations and Implementation challenges group is also benefiting from cheaper voice
capabilities while driving down operating costs. OpenScape Unified Communications faster resolution times. Any global telecommunications project poses calls and more reliable data communications
Nilfisk-Advance’s senior management and its for 1500 seats
OpenScape Mobile User 1500 users challenges. Asset discovery is complex and between the Americas, Asia and Europe.
ICT division, led by Steen Andersen, knew Programme elements include gateways, PC
OpenScape Contact Centre at several there are always variations in information These advances are making a daily
there was scope for strategic change. Built on soft phones with software integration and
locations including Denmark, USA, China, supplied by carriers. A recurring difficulty contribution to the group target of a 12 per
acquisitions, Nilfisk-Advance’s country teams desk phones, contact centres, reception
Germany, and UK was the differences between national cent reduction in travel costs for 2009-2011,
had multiple and outdated telecommunications offices, mobile clients and project
network standards. Siemens Enterprise set by Nilfisk-Advance’s CEO, Jørgen Jensen
systems. As IT director Steen Andersen states: implementation and testing. Siemens
The agreement has three elements: Communications has skilfully evaluated each in the group’s 2009 annual report.
“We had a mix of Alcatel, Nortel, Avaya, Siemens Enterprise Communications also implemented
location’s hardware and software assets.
and others from different eras. There was no An operating expenditure-based, HD video for the main centres outside of the Global operations are benefitting from smarter
They also carefully assessed local networks
programme to set up a fully centralised phased transformation, including core managed service agreement. working too. Nilfisk-Advance now has 12
to determine necessary equipment. Steen
communications infrastructure until 2009.” planned transformation that harnesses Andersen of Nilfisk-Advance comments: specially equipped video conferencing rooms
Phased programme
As part of its strategic planning which Siemens Enterprise Communications’ “Siemens Enterprise Communications at offices in several countries, including
incorporated reducing travel costs, Nilfisk- global integration expertise
Siemens Enterprise Communications is
provided all the seats, but they also took Denmark, USA, China, Italy and Hungary, “The real change comes
delivering the solution in a phased programme
Advance decided to outsource its existing ICT Centralised governance around a which is scheduled for completion by Autumn great trouble to assess local carriers’ which is reducing the need for senior when users understand
and telephony to deliver an integrated state- consolidated service level agreement information. We had better information for executives and project teams to travel.
of-the-art communications platform. Steen (SLA) and single point of contact
2011. Phase one – due to finish at the end
each roll-out because of their involvement.”
what’s really possible with
of 2010 - has already covered the key Nilfisk- However, it is the new communications’
Andersen of Nilfisk-Advance explained: “We Multi-vendor consolidation Advance manufacturing facilities – Denmark, unified communications.
Managing the relationship boost to global team-working that has most
wanted a simpler and cheaper way to run things USA, China, Italy and Hungary. Phase two in Different age groups in the
Through the agreement, Nilfisk-Advance is To set the operational parameters for managing impressed Steen Andersen: “The new centres
at global and local levels while reducing PBX 2011 will bring 19 more sites into the new
able to concentrate on business priorities the companies’ partnership, Steen Andersen’s have improved team collaboration, workforce have different
and communication costs. Savings from the new communications platform.
while Siemens Enterprise Communications’ IT team kicked off the programme by visiting especially with the addition of the HD video
telecommunications systems at HQ offices would expectations.”
teams manage the transformation of Nilfisk- Siemens Enterprise Communications’ support at our main world-wide locations. We were
pay for close to 50 per cent of global roll-out.” Central governance with local excellence
Advance’s legacy networks to IP-based centre in Sofia to present Nilfisk-Advance’s surprised as the original main objective was to Steen Andersen,
The company investigated outsourcing with Nilfisk-Advance’s new global telephony service
‘Open Communications’. Their experts objectives. Siemens Enterprise cut travel costs, but inter-region collaboration IT director,
managed telephony services as the springboard is a corporate level solution - smarter working Nilfisk-Advance
assume responsibility for integrating Nilfisk- Communications has continued to invest improved markedly. Our senior management
for longer term developments such as cross for reduced travel. To maintain the necessary
Advance’s existing multi-vendor, multi- resources in ensuring collaboration between has found that common projects now run
boundary team collaborations. After evaluating controls, Nilfisk-Advance’s corporate team
technology environments, including mixed its support and development centres. much faster.”
suppliers, Nifisk-Advance’s IT team was convinced based at the group’s Brondby headquarters,
(TDM and IP) technology infrastructures. Siemens generates each local business case and
that Siemens Enterprise Communications and Enterprise Communications can bring in Ongoing work is directed by Nilfisk-Advance The future
its OpenScape UC platform provided the vital specifications. The IT team then works with The UC programme is progressing through
expert partners to support financing of assets, through bi-monthly meetings of its project
operational benefits they desired including Siemens Enterprise Communications to Nilfisk-Advance’s central control and Siemens
ensuring that Nilfisk can control ‘how much’ management board. and regular face to face
gateways, call centre functionality, faster call match these needs to the local telephony Enterprise Communications’ project
moves from Capex to Opex – while aligning meetings with the project manager and
handling, more flexible conferencing, virtual systems and manage implementation. management. Nilfisk-Advance is able to deal
the programme to group accounting models. Siemens Enterprise Communications’ service
presentation options, and mobile integration. delivery team led by Heinz-Peter Machata. All with one expert supplier and SLA so it has
Nilfisk-Advance ICT realises the management’s
Siemens Enterprise Communications is these sessions are backed by weekly much more effective governance than having
Nilfisk-Advance wanted to drive a new vision through a project plan with seven
drawing on its track record in multi-vendor conference calls. Project management and to deal with multi-technology, multi-vendor as
communication strategy and system to meet strands. These include workforce training
services – it has 2,000 certifications on escalation procedures have been refined over well as TDM and IP environments.
the key corporate objective: reducing travel and on boarding for Nilfisk-Advance’s
costs. In its 2009 annual report, the company other vendor equipment – to provide Nilfisk- country staff – a commitment often under- time. Steen Andersen says: “The
Advance with a single SLA. This imposes Siemens Enterprise Communications and
had noted total travel expenses of 61 million realised in communications programmes. implementation has generally gone well. It
centralised project governance including the Nilfisk-Advance have invested effort and
DKK (Krone). It also stated its intention to has been a smooth roll-out. The fact that the
management of Nilfisk-Advance’s multi-vendor resources to build momentum for the UC
telephones do the job is the key to everything.”

3. About Siemens Enterprise Communications
Siemens Enterprise Communications is a premier provider of end-to-end enterprise
communications, including voice, network infrastructure and security solutions that use open,
standards-based architectures to unify communications and business applications for a seamless
collaboration experience. This award-winning "Open Communications" approach enables
organizations to improve productivity and reduce costs through easy-to-deploy solutions that
work within existing IT environments, delivering operational efficiencies. It is the foundation for
the company's OpenPath® commitment that enables customers to mitigate risk and cost-
effectively adopt unified communications. Jointly owned by The Gores Group and Siemens AG,
Siemens Enterprise Communications companies include Siemens Enterprise Communications,
Cycos, and Enterasys Networks. © Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG
For more information about Siemens Enterprise Communications or Enterasys please visit Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG
www.siemens-enterprise.com is a Trademark Licensee of Siemens AG
The information provided in this brochure contains
merely general descriptions or characteristics of
performance which in case of actual use do not always
Communication for the open minded apply as described or which may change as a result of
further development of the products. An obligation to
provide the respective characteristics shall only exist if
expressly agreed in the terms of contract. Availability
and technical specifications are subject to change
Siemens Enterprise Communications without notice. OpenScape, OpenStage and HiPath are
www.siemens-enterprise.com registered trademarks of Siemens Enterprise
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