¶ … CISCO Systems Telecommunication System at International Mining and Construction Overview and Present Status

This report examines International Mining and Construction Company and their stated challenge in Telecommunications. It is reported "…Thiess, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leighton Holding Limited, is one of Australia's largest construction, mining and services contractors with operations throughout Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and India." (Cisco Systems, 2008)

Characteristics of the Company

Theiss in collaboration with Dimension Data worked to upgrade to Unified Communications Manger and Unified Presence 7.0 enabling business-to business exchange of presence and instant messaging with partners." Cisco Systems, 2008 Stated for example are proposal teams who "spend as long as a years developing proposals…" and as the deadline nears, being able to reach someone for one extra piece of information can make the difference in winning a multibillion dollar deal, which can be lost by as little at U.S.$100,000." (Cisco Systems, 2008)

III. Goal and Objectives of the Company

Theiss employees are reported to require "collaborating across time and distance barriers, both with coworkers and partners." (Cisco Systems, 2008) In addition, Thiess needed to "quickly deploy communications systems in temporary field offices, which operate only for the duration of the construction project, typically one to three years." (Cisco Systems, 2008) There are a stated 200 offices in operation at any given time and these employees in many locations required the capacity to easily access their colleagues via mobile...

Theiss identified the solution offered by Cisco Unified Communication and in 2004 the company is reported to have 'engaged Dimension Data, a Cisco Certified Gold Partner to upgrade to Cisco unified Communications Manager 4.1 in conjunction with a network upgrade to a carrier IP meshed network."
IV. Strategies Currently Employed by the Company

The following statistics are stated in the findings reported by Cisco Systems, Inc. On Thiess adoption of its Unified Communication System.

Figure 1

Challenges in Telecommunication and Construction Industry

Source: Cisco (2008)

V. External Opportunities & Overview of Industry

It is reported by Darren Kay, Enterprise Architect, Dimension Data as follows: '

"Employees at Theiss

"…can locate and collaborate with its Dimension Data service managers as easily as if they were Thiess employees. "With business-to-business presence and instant messaging federation, my Thiess clients can see when I'm available and immediately reach out to me," Kay says. "Typical turnaround for a service request has decreased from two days to 30 minutes." "With business-to-business presence and instant messaging federation, my Thiess clients can see when I'm available and immediately reach out to me. Typical turnaround for a service request has decreased from two days to 30 minutes." -- Darren Kay, Enterprise Architect, Dimension Data (2008 Cisco Systems, Inc., 2008)

It is stated by Benjamin Creevey, Network & Telecommunications Manager, Thiess as follows:

"If we need an answer…