Evolution Research Group
Evolution Research Group moves from different on-premise systems to Centralized Cloud System with RingEX
When I was hired for this job, I was hired to consolidate all equipment, vendors, and apps across locations. I had more than a dozen different locations with different systems. RingCentral ended up being the easiest of all the infrastructure consolidations I had to complete.
Dave Hennessy
CIO
Moving from different on-premise phone systems to a unified cloud solution
Evolution Research Group (ERG) is a leading clinical trial service provider, with 20+ research sites located throughout the US. ERG also owns Lotus Clinical Research, LLC, a full-service specialty CRO as well as CNS Ratings, LLC, a rater training and surveillance service provider.
While maintaining a strong leadership position in psychiatry, neurology, pain, addiction, NASH/NAFLD, particularly in early phase and complex inpatient trials, ERG’s site business has grown from three fully owned and operated research sites to more than 20 over the past 8 years. With a staff of 650+ to support, ERG has consistently invested in building a strong infrastructure to support their sites, enabling them to focus on execution of their clinical trials for all sponsors. This includes centralized patient recruitment, quality assurance, clinical operations, business development and contracting, among others. But a major key to the success of the organization is the IT infrastructure, led by Dave Hennessy, Chief Information Officer, who joined the company in 2018.
Three years ago, each location had their own “on-premises” phone system, different PBX vendors, and no centralized way to transfer calls or connect offices. Mr. Hennessy was charged with consolidating every system, vendor, and application across the business, including the phone system.
“I knew I wanted to move ERG’s telecommunications to a cloud-based system, and I did not want any other equipment on site. I had used RingCentral at a previous company, particularly in a call center function, and I knew they could provide the centralized cloud-based communications system we needed,” said Hennessy.
Hennessy chose RingEX, which provides messaging, video, and phone in one easy to use app.
INDUSTRY
Healthcare Research
HQ
New Providence, NJ
YEAR FOUNDED
1998
EMPLOYEES
650
Shifting to work from home
Since ERG began their RingCentral implementation prior to the pandemic, they were able to quickly transition staff to fully remote work environment, available as needed, to optimize resources as the business evolves.
Their recruiting team had previously needed to be physically embedded in each site location to manage recruitment activities for that local site. With RingCentral, the team is now able to work from anywhere and recruit for studies across all sites. The recruiting team also uses RingCentral’s Live Reports for key analytics that tracks their team’s performance and usage of RingCentral. This gives them data to support their key performance indicators (KPIs) for recruitment activities. Hundreds of data points are tracked across ERG and reported to management, so this capability was essential.
“It is incredibly beneficial for our staff to no longer be tied to a phone in an office. With the RingCentral softphone, they can securely login from anywhere and be connected just like they are sitting in the office. As so many have experienced during this pandemic, the ability to be agile and provide flexible work environments for the team was necessary to continue to operate and maintain our growth trajectory,” Hennessy said.
The easiest transition ever
For the first few implementations, Hennessy’s IT team collaborated with RingCentral’s Professional Services team. Then his team was able to take over. “It’s a pretty simple process. It doesn’t pose any technical challenges to us, we have found it very easy to set up accounts, import numbers, etc. In summary, it’s just really simple,” said Hennessy.
Hennessy added, “When I was hired for this job, I was hired to consolidate all equipment, vendors, and apps across locations. I had more than a dozen different locations with different systems. RingCentral ended up being the easiest of all the infrastructure consolidations I had to complete.”
We were easily able to train the staff and transition to softphones. People grasped the RingCentral system easily and that saved us a lot of time in training.
Dave Hennessy
CIO
“My experience with RingCentral overall has been very positive. It’s been a couple of years now, and never once did I think of going in a different direction. I have been happy to continue rolling out RingCentral to all our ERG site locations,” said Hennessy.
RingCentral has them covered
While ERG primarily uses RingCentral for phone, they have used RingCentral video for internal and external meetings and executive fireside chats. “When we’ve used the RingCentral video, people have had a good experience with it,” said Hennessy. “We’ve also had positive experience with RingCentral support, which has been timely and responsive.”
Hennessy reports that he is frequently contacted by communications vendors, but happily tells them he’s got it covered with RingCentral.
“I would absolutely recommend RingCentral and so would my team. They really like it and I’ve got what I set out to get — a unified cloud-based phone system. I couldn’t be happier,” said Hennessy.
I would absolutely recommend RingCentral and so would my team. They really like it and I’ve got what I set out to get — a unified cloud-based phone system. I couldn’t be happier.
Dave Hennessy
CIO