Client
A Top 10 Federal Defense Contractor with over 20,000 employees. The enterprise had grown through several acquisitions of organizations utilizing different IT solutions. This resulted in managing a complex environment with multiple SIP carriers, large Avaya and Cisco infrastructure footprints for PBX, and Contact Center with voice, messaging, and a collaboration environment comprised of disparate, primarily premises-based tools, including Microsoft Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco WebEx. The disparate platforms were symptomatic of business units having unfulfilled requirements and sourcing solutions independently. The myriad of systems deployed caused significant cost and operational inefficiency, endangered the client with potential security risks, and posed significant challenges with supporting the end-user community. To mitigate these challenges, the enterprise engaged the ARG team to build, author, and manage a Unified Communications and Contact Center Request for Proposal (RFP).
The Approach
The ARG team helped the client complete a survey of their business needs and conducted stakeholder meetings to collect use case information from the various business units. During the requirements gathering phase, a steering committee was identified to represent stakeholders’ needs in the evaluation of a new platform. The client required a FedRAMP environment that provided a seamless consolidation of collaboration/conferencing/voice and delivered cost efficiencies. High-touch service and support to manage the user transition and migrate existing legacy services were necessary to enable the client’s staff to focus on existing priorities. Management also sought the ability to easily scale in support of their acquisition and growth roadmap. The final solution requirements were ease of use as well as ease of administration. ARG used the captured data and client requirements to identify providers who could take a broad approach to solving the client’s core needs. The supporting ARG team reviewed the list of prospective partners and solution designs with the client to finalize the list of bidders.
The team then pulled in Steve Murphy to assist with the RFP and the advanced modeling and analysis of the responses. As the head of ARG’s Pricing and Analysis team, Steve Murphy, MBA, leverages his experience at Arthur Andersen and the Kelly School of Business to author and analyze formal RFPs covering all elements of the client’s key requirements and business value objectives. He created the document, which was approved by the client and sent to the down-selected vendors. Using the client’s critical criteria as a guide, Steve’s team of analysts aggregated and normalized the vendor RFP response data into a weighted scoring template. After conducting the initial review of the response data with the client, ARG facilitated the down-selection of finalists and then coordinated “vendor days” for those providers to review their solutions with the client.
The ARG analyst team created a scorecard for the client’s steering committee and stakeholders to help track their feedback during the sessions. Once scoring was completed by all participants, ARG aggregated the scorecard data for review with the client, which was then used to identify their next round of down-selections. They also provided the client with unique perspectives and invaluable context around the service provider information presented.
Using ARG’s InSITE process, the ARG team built a business outcome-based technology roadmap to justify the solution. The ARG team assisted the client in negotiating financial models and finalizing proposals. They then delivered a comprehensive total cost of ownership/return on investment (TCO/ROI) analysis considering all the client’s current contracts, which helped bring the executive team to a final decision. Using ARG’s extensive executive access, the team set up multiple meetings between the client and provider executives to ensure both parties understood the importance of the project.
In the negotiation process, ARG navigated multiple provider contract end dates and early termination penalties to determine the optimal installation. ARG also saved the client $4.4M over the life of the contract.
The Solution
The final solution fit the established criteria, streamlined vendor management, reduced exposure, and provided a top-notch user experience. The client’s executive leadership team wanted a simple, collaboration-first solution. In addition to FedRAMP compliance, it needed to be able to support a wide range of use cases, from day-to-day needs through advanced training and video room system interoperability and support. ARG negotiated industry-leading flexibility in the ramp schedule and terms to help make the migration easy and the business case strong.
Ensuring Success
ARG’s value delivery strategy does not stop at the selection process. The ARG Project Experience team took over post-contract execution. Leveraging experience with hundreds of UCaaS and collaboration deployments, ARG project and engineering resources partnered with the client to develop a technically sound and efficient deployment plan. ARG’s guidance on how best to phase the rollout, capture user detail, compile porting inventories and documentation, manage training, and best practices for successfully activating each location were key to this process. ARG developed a repeatable and predictably successful experience with thorough checklists and post-go-live test plans for each site. In the end, ARG helped activate thousands of users and transition 50,000 numbers onto one uniform platform across the enterprise. After implementation, the ARG team followed up to ensure all outcomes were delivered and ROI realized.
ARG can help with your technology procurement and ongoing management and support. Email info@myarg.com to find out how to add ARG’s resources to your team.
