They have revolutionised technology in the late rock god’s London flat, which has been restored to its original state and is now a world-renowned museum.
Hosted VoIP telephony and dedicated managed broadband provision has transformed business efficiency at the attraction, which opened in February.
Staff at the museum had previously been reliant on basic ADSL broadband for internet access and backup functionality, but slow speeds were hindering productivity.
The on-site telephone system, which was more than 14 years old and relied on obsolete handsets, was only able to receive one call at a time and its features were limited.
Simona Tocco is the Facilities and Buildings Manager at Handel & Hendrix in London, which also boasts a museum dedicated to German-born composer George Frideric Handel in the adjoining property: “I had no idea what a hosted VoIP telephone system was prior to speaking to Daisy. But our account manager was really helpful and explained it so simply that the cost benefits were soon very clear. We wanted a system that could handle multiple calls and enable us to deliver a first-class visitor experience.”
The museum now benefits from a hosted VoIP solution – an off-premises telephone system which connects calls over the internet instead of a phone line.
In order to benefit fully from the cloud-based solution, it also upgraded its existing ADSL broadband connection to one capable of handling the increased bandwidth requirements.
Due to the museum’s location and Grade I listed building status, fibre broadband was unavailable; so Daisy installed a dedicated managed internet connection, not shared with other businesses, which provides guaranteed speeds and improved reliability.
Other major benefits include updates and maintenance work to the system, handled by Daisy and performed off site. An online portal also allows staff to configure and remove value-adding features at the click of a button; for example the ‘disaster redirect’ feature, which ensures that if at any point service was to go down or staff were unable to get into the office, calls could be redirected to assigned mobiles, enabling the museum to continue to function.
Simona Tocco added: “All our staff now have individual feature-rich handsets which allow them to do things like transfer, hold or record calls, which makes managing calls much easier. The easy-to-use online portal also allows us to manage the system ourselves so there is no need to wait for an engineer to visit. The other obvious benefit we’ve seen has been the cost savings. Now all our calls are delivered over the internet in HD quality, yet our monthly call expenditure has been reduced.”
Soon after installation, an award-winning radio station requested to broadcast from Hendrix’s flat but was unsure the museum could support its bandwidth requirements.
Daisy was able to provide performance reports to prove that its managed internet connectivity service would cope and the station went on to host its first live show from the museum, helping to boost publicity for the opening of Hendrix’s flat.
Dave McGinn, Managing Director at Daisy SMB Services stated: “It’s a real thrill for us to be so centrally involved in preserving the legacy of such an iconic figure as Jimi Hendrix. He was an innovator himself, just like we are, so we hope he’s looking down with approval!”