A1 Lofts rebuilds back office computing

UK building firm A1 Lofts has embarked on a major technology renewal project, implementing a new back office solution for communications and information management.

The company announced at Alcatel Lucent's enterprise forum in Paris, that it is deploying an integrated single solution at its sites in Chertsey and Grimsby for telephony, email, CRM and web-based resource-sharing.

Of particular interest is the deployment of Alcatel's Extended Communications Server (ECS), which is built on well-known open source applications including the customer relationship management platform Sugar CRM, as well as the Drupal content management system. Both are fully accessible over the web for field workers.

"We're under pressure to maximise the use of our internal resources in order to win new business while maintaining a high standard of support for existing customers. We've always recognised the value of CRM and resource-sharing tools, but were deterred by the substantial licence fees involved in deploying other systems," said Steve Mills, managing director at A1 Lofts.

The project is unusual as it represents such a major technology change for what is a smaller business.

In addition to the ECS component, A1 Lofts has deployed Alcatel Lucent's OmniPCX Office IP telephony platform and elements of its Office Communications Solutions portfolio, with local solution providers and software specialists handling system customisation and bespoke development of business-specific features.

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