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Railway engineering consultancy moves full steam ahead with mobile working solution from Cobweb Solutions

Bellwether specialises in engineering and technical consulting for the railway industry. Structured as an officeless company, Bellwether has nine employees—all of whom work from their homes, connecting to one another using broadband Internet connections and a secure virtual private network (VPN).

Initially Bellwether used a POP3 e-mail service from an Internet service provider (ISP) but was not satisfied with the ISP’s e-mail back-up or security capabilities. Seeking stronger support and messaging features such as calendaring, shared contacts, and improved Web access, Bellwether brought its business to Cobweb Solutions. The new solution has significantly increased Bellwether staff productivity and helped the firm win the DTI Sponsored Best Use of Teleworking award in the UK e-Commerce Awards for the last two years running.

The Challenge

The word bellwether means one that serves as a leader or a leading indicator of future trends. UK-based Bellwether Enterprises lives up to its name through its innovative business model: It’s a company with no office.

Formed in 1998 after the privatisation of British Rail, Bellwether specializes in railway engineering and technical consulting. The company delivers systems engineering, risk assessment, safety management, and asset management solutions for customers in Europe and around the globe. Bellwether is owned by its employees, funds its growth by reinvesting profits back into the business, and distributes 10 percent of its after-tax profits to charitable organizations.

When Bellwether’s founders set up the company, they decided against having a central office. That way, staff members could spend less time in daily commute and have more time to work from home, on the road, or at a client location. This business model required IT systems that offered maximum connectivity for the workforce while providing a secure network for the company.

Each consultant has a high-end laptop computer and a mobile phone. At home they have broadband Internet connections, and, while traveling, they can log on to public wireless hotspots. By using electronic forms instead of paper whenever possible, Bellwether is able to lower costs and speed workflow within the company.

Bellwether has one monthly, in-person staff meeting. The rest of the time staff members stay connected primarily through email messages. Sue Schreiber, Marketing Manager at Bellwether, explains, "As a virtual organisation, email is the backbone of our organisation. It’s what keeps us connected on a daily basis—both internally and with our clients."

Initially, the staff used a POP3–based e-mail system provided by a local ISP, but they were dissatisfied with the back-up and security capabilities. The solution did not enable consultants to collaborate and share information the way they wanted because it lacked calendaring and shared contact features. To collaborate on projects, the staff used a separate document-sharing system from British Telecom, and that system was slow and had a cumbersome interface.

The Solution

Many Bellwether staff members came from large companies that used the Microsoft® Office Outlook® messaging and collaboration client and Microsoft Exchange Server. They missed the calendaring, shared contacts, and information-sharing capabilities these Microsoft technologies provide. So Bellwether explored the following email options involving Microsoft Exchange Server:

• Deploy and maintain its own server
• Deploy its own server and outsource the maintenance
• Buy licenses from an application service provider that offers a hosted service built on Exchange

Staff members chose the third option because it was the most cost efficient. This option was also easier for their virtual office structure because Bellwether would not have to deal with housing a server.

Cobweb provides Bellwether with an outsourced messaging service based on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system and Exchange Server 2003—both of which are part of Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server software. Cobweb delivers advanced email

and collaboration services, including shared calendars and contact lists, public folders, and more. Cobweb also provides Bellwether with its own email domain as well as user authentication and validation services provided by the Microsoft Active Directory® directory service in Windows Server 2003.

"Our professionalism depends on quality e-mail communication," says Schreiber. "Cobweb provides a reliable email service and has a very good support organisation. They can explain IT in a way that makes sense to me in my business."

All Bellwether consultants have Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 on their laptops, enabling them to synchronise their laptops with the information on the server systems running the hosted Exchange solution. In this way, Bellwether consultants can continue to refer to their messages and schedules even if they’re not online.

"Our workers are offline most of the time because they are often at customer sites where they don’t have much email access. Or there may be security issues that prevent them from using the system," explains Schreiber. "So for us, technology that cannot be used offline is not even usable."

Benefits

Bellwether has been recognised for its innovative use of technology, winning the regional Best Use of Teleworking award at the 2004 and 2005 National E-Commerce Awards run by the Department of Trade and Industry and InterForum, a not-for-profit organisation that helps British businesses trade electronically.

"A company with this structure would not have been possible even 5 years ago," says Schreiber. "However, developments in technology such as Hosted Exchange and the widespread availability of broadband wireless networks and mobile phones mean that we are not constrained by the lack of physical offices. We can easily work with each other across the Internet."

Increase productivity while lowering costs

By not having an office, Bellwether saves an estimated £50,000 annually, enabling the company to pass on lower rates to clients. The company also saves travel-related costs by having virtual meetings. Consultants can work more billable hours because they don’t have daily commutes. Yet the company can attract high caliber consultants who may be looking for more flexible hours and the ability to work at home.

"Using Hosted Exchange has enabled us to increase our productivity and keep our costs down; thus, making the business more efficient and increasing the value we can deliver to our clients," says Schreiber.

Enhance competitive edge with enterprise-class tools

A highly professional messaging and communications vehicle is a necessity in the consulting business. This hosted solution enables Bellwether to compete successfully against huge engineering firms that have sophisticated internal messaging systems. "The Hosted Exchange solution gives our staff members all of the messaging and collabo-ration tools that a large company would have, so we are able to be as professional as any other company," says Sue Schreiber, Marketing Manager at Bellwether. "Our colleagues particularly like the Web access of this solution—that was the capability people commented on most."

By having its own domain, Bellwether has a professional online presence. The ability to share contact information through the Hosted Exchange solution is also important because the company doesn’t have a sales force. "Sharing contact information and keeping the contact information accurate is critical for our future," comments Schreiber.

The hosted solution also gives Bellwether the IT support it needs. Schreiber explains, "Most of our staff members are technically savvy, but they don’t have the time or energy to sort out all of the technology issues on their own. Working with Cobweb, we feel we have pieced together a sound, supportable, and afford-able solution that is configured to our specific business needs and culture. For us, it’s about maintaining professionalism. We don’t want to have to think about the technical details to achieve this goal."

Save money with affordable technology that fits business needs

Bellwether appreciates the fact that it can buy affordable Hosted Exchange licenses from Cobweb and easily add new Exchange accounts as they add consultants to accommodate the fluctuating workload.

"Our operation is very budget-driven. We use Hosted Exchange because it is affordable and delivers the professional capabilities we need," says Schreiber. "Originally, we thought that Hosted Exchange would be an interim solution that we could start with and see if it suited us. Then if we needed to get our own server, we could do that at a later stage. But we are more than happy to stick with what we’ve got. We are still operating without an office and have expanded ten-fold since our founding—so we have achieved our objectives. Hosted Exchange has been a big part of our success."