OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES

BSO was first brought on-board in 2011 to deliver a managed network solution for legal firm Speechly Bircham.

Responsible for the firm’s IT infrastructure, Rob Cohen approached BSO in search of a better service than the usual telecommunication providers offered.

The first project for BSO involved the specification, integration and deployment of new connectivity services between London and the organisation’s first two international offices, Zurich and Luxembourg offices.

“Selecting BSO to assist our merger, and then manage the unified solution moving-forward, was a clear choice.”

As Speechly Bircham continued growing, new locations in Paris and Geneva were added under BSO’s network management and increased bandwidth was secured to support the rapidly increasing number of legal professionals and mission-critical applications.

In 2014, Speechly Bircham’s decision to merge with Charles Russell created a number of new objectives for the firm, specific to the legal sector.

The combined team numbered over 500 lawyers generating a combined turnover of £135million.

There were now 10 offices spread across two continents and it became clear that further network consolidation and management would be necessary.

This would involve consolidating both London headquarters and multiple international data centres onto one centralised, fully managed network.

CHALLENGES

With staff and clients spread across the world, Charles Russell Speechlys must guarantee the availability of critical legal resources at all times.

Documentation should be easily retrievable, vital information delivered quickly and data stored securely for compliance purposes.

These legal firm challenges were accompanied by the associated complexity of integrating the disparate IT systems, network infrastructures and management processes of two different companies.

This also included the deployment of a new document management solution and support for the rollout of a unified video conferencing platform.

“Mergers can challenge even the most experienced of organisations, particularly the IT department, however our existing relationship with BSO meant bringing Charles Russell’s infrastructure under the BSO managed network was extremely efficient.

“BSO was invaluable in helping outline which direction to take when conducting the integration projects we felt were necessary from the merger.”

ROB COHEN
Global IT Director, Charles Russell Speechlys

THE SOLUTION

Managing such an intricate process required a similarly comprehensive deployment strategy.

BSO began with a full analysis of both companies’ corporate networks, current application requirements, and existing operational processes, providers and infrastructure. This helped determine an appropriate timescale and solution portfolio.

“We have worked with BSO for a number of years and the team has already proven their technical knowledge, ability to manage complex projects and excellent customer experience.”

Once the pre-deployment stage was complete, BSO created a detailed roadmap for the multi-stage deployment. This included:

• Reliably connecting the Charles Russell data centre, Equinix LD4 in Slough, with Speechly Bircham’s data centre in New Street Square, London

• Connecting the New Street Square headquarters with the Charles Russell office in Fleet Place, London so the two merged companies operate under a single global network

• Dark fibre connectivity into a new Fleet Place office to bring the site into the on-net LAN, with connectivity back into the managed solution required for further network resilience

• Connectivity to the Guildford office to support the multi-site deployment of the document management system

RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS

By entrusting the company’s network to BSO, the law firm has prevented the need for a large internal team of network specialists, thereby reducing staff costs while still ensuring the network is overseen by an expert team.

This lets Charles Russell Speechlys dedicate IT resources to the delivery of vital data to its lawyers and support the company’s core professional services.

Rob Cohen concluded,

“One of the main reasons we chose BSO was because of its unique blend of international experience and local knowledge, particularly with local telecom providers.

“Having a single point of contact is invaluable for us – everything is easily managed and we know we can utilise BSO’s expertise whenever we need to.

“We have seen a significant increase in business efficiency and reduction in our overall IT spend.”

Charles Russell Speechlys regularly takes full advantage of BSO’s dedicated account management team, where a single point of contact ensures fast, personal and focused assistance.

BSO’s 24/7 Network Operation Centre provides further reassurance and accountability to Charles Russell Speechlys’ internal IT department, acting as an extension of their team.

ABOUT CHARLES RUSSELL SPEECHLYS

Charles Russell Speechlys was created by the merger of Charles Russell and Speechly Bircham.

The firm is one of a small number of major law firms which combines a pre-eminent private wealth practice with a significant business law capacity – offering an integrated service to wealthy individuals, family offices, wealth managers and large, privately held businesses throughout the UK and across the world.

The firm provides specialist transactional and advisory services to major international corporates and privately owned businesses operating in the firm’s sectors of focus.

Charles Russell Speechlys has significant strengths in the real estate and construction sectors, transactional expertise across the financial services sector and specialist employment, intellectual property and commercial teams advising public companies in sectors such as retail and leisure, sport and TMT.

The firm operates through integrated teams across the firm’s international and regional office network.

Charles Russell Speechlys is headquartered in London, with regional offices in Cheltenham and Guildford and overseas offices in major wealth and business centres: Bahrain, Doha, Geneva, Luxembourg, Paris and Zurich. Other geographic areas of focus include the United States of America, Africa and the Caribbean.

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