London's iconic buildings upgrade their systems

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) has upgraded its telecoms infrastructure to improve communication across different sites, and enhance visitor experience.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is being used to process bookings and receive enquiries from visitors to Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage.

Communications supplier Actimax, which implemented an integrated systems from Alcatel, provides 24 hour technical and maintenance support.

The system includes hot desking, reduced call charges and audio and video conferencing. Users can also log on from anywhere on the network and communicate and share documents easily between sites.

HRP had previously been using eight separate telephone systems across the six locations.

But the consolidation of telephone systems has reduced the burden on staff, said HRP's IS projects manager, Barbara Crow.

“We needed to update our system and make working at multiple sites easier for our team," she said.

"Staff are now happily free seating with their new telephone numbers from site to site."

“This means that staff have just one office telephone number and one voicemail to manage.”