Case Studies

Cobbetts

Cobbetts is not only the 2nd best UK law firm to work for – according to the Sunday Times’ 100 Best Companies to Work For 2004 Survey, but is also a Top 50, full service practice which boasts 115 partners. Their unique approach to partner managed client relationships is underpinned by a flexible, focused team structure that has been developed across seven key practice areas and not only benefits the client, but enables the lawyer to work toward a better work-life balance. Part of this commitment is fulfilled by enabling it’s workforce to work from remote locations and home offices securely with high-speed broadband connectivity from Community Internet.

A large part of the work done at Cobbetts involves research, which often results in very long hours and weekend working. Working from home in these circumstances enables the team to be near their families, cutting out travel time and absence from the home. “With secure access to three million documents and all our bespoke systems, workers are as, if not more productive when working remotely. There are less distractions like phones constantly ringing,” said Warren Short, Support Services, Cobbetts.

“We are very progressive in our use of technology in our industry with our use of IP telephony, digital dictating systems and Citrix remote access,” comments Short. “But it was our users that demanded broadband for home use. About a quarter of our fee earners were sourcing their own broadband providers, each paying different tariffs and having different problems. This meant that there were also knock on effects for my team and the accounts team. We decided to look to a single supplier, which would give the users and the IT team peace of mind and lessen the lengthy expenses handling process.

“CI actually approached us. I trialled the Broadband service by having a line into my own office so I could check resilience and determine the configuration required for the routers which would be delivered as part of the service. Within two weeks we had remote workers benefiting from CI’s services.

“We are heading towards our 20th rollout and currently deliver around one kit per week. Managing the service couldn’t be easier. We simply call our account manager and pre-configured router firewalls are delivered to us for despatch to the user, who simply plug it in and they’re ready to go.

“From a management perspective, we have a customer control panel which has been designed to enable IT Managers like myself, to stay in control of the services we provide users,” Short continued. “It’s an online tool which shows all the Broadband lines, lists the numbers etc., which means I can keep track of which services the staff are using for future IT developments. We are standardising on CI and I believe this will continue to be a contributing factor to Cobbetts being one of the best places to work in the UK,” concludes Short.

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