Small steps, big gains: Axis Bio’s Move to Cloud Voice

David McLaughlin, business account manager at eir evo UK, talks to Catherine Maguire, Axis Bio co-founder and director of business development and operations, on the role of communications technology in their growth journey

Catherine, can you start by telling us a bit about Axis Bio?

Absolutely! Axis Bio is a Contract Research Organisation (CRO) offering a range of models which test the efficacy of novel anti-cancer treatments. We are based in Coleraine and for over a decade we’ve made progress in establishing ourselves as a major industry provider to the pharmaceutical sector, various biomedical companies and university research facilities.

We specialise in offering murine models in areas such as oncology, inflammation and respiratory diseases. Our work has not only impacted the local community but has also extended its reach nationally and internationally. We’re very proud of the positive contributions we’ve made to cancer research and our collaboration with clients in this field has allowed us to contribute to the development of potentially lifesaving treatments and in the development of novel therapeutic models for oncology.

Our journey has been remarkable and we continue to look ahead, always striving to push the boundaries of knowledge, understanding and innovation while carefully observing the human impact of cancers in Northern Ireland.

How crucial is effective communication to Axis Bio’s growth?

Being able to efficiently communicate with both our internal team and external customer is crucial to our success. Our clients, suppliers and investors are based domestically and internationally and a reliable and efficient communications platform is vital. We prove that geographical position is no barrier to making a significant impact in the world of research and development. Our ability to operate on the current scale is greatly enhanced by our technology platform.

Technology changes so quickly. What has been the most significant recent development in your tech stack?

We’ve always invested in our service delivery to stay in step and hopefully ahead of demand from our industry.

But without communication and technology expertise it’s difficult to stay in the race for knowledge. Recently, we experienced issues with our telephone services, including downtime, poor call quality and dropped calls. We hadn’t previously worked with eir evo UK but on our first introduction they recommended Microsoft Teams Voice as a solution. We were already using Microsoft Teams for collaboration and document storage, so Microsoft Teams Voice seemed like the perfect fix. The benefits were seamless integration with our existing tools while addressing our communication challenges.

Microsoft Teams Voice has been a game-changer.

How has Microsoft Teams Voice made a difference for Axis Bio?

There are five major improvements. Firstly, reliability has improved significantly –no more downtime and poor quality calls. This is crucial.

Secondly, integration with our existing Microsoft Teams set up means staff can make and receive phone calls from virtually any location relying only on internet connection. Calls can be answered from a computer, mobile phone or mobile device.

Thirdly, client interactions have been enhanced by providing a consistent calling experience and syncing with many clients’ current use of Teams Voice.

Fourthly, the flexibility is ideal – we operate through many different time zones and can manage our business calls seamlessly and remain accessible from anywhere.

Finally, the security is reassuring as often we share sensitive, confidential information and data.

Any other new benefits since adopting Teams Voice?

We can now consolidate all our communication activities, such as chat, messaging, video calls and phone calls, into a single platform. This has improved productivity and organisation

How industry leader eir evo UK partners with leading technology brands

within our team and has helped streamline email use by utilising chat for internal communications. Additionally, it allows us to turn one-on-one calls into group calls or switch from voice to video with screensharing, which has improved customer communications. It’s also highly scalable, which is fantastic for our growing business!

Was it difficult to implement the new technology?

Not at all. A cloud-based solution can be deployed quickly without extensive training. The eir evo UK team provided us with a demonstration of the technology, showing how it could seamlessly integrate with our existing systems and cater to our specific needs. We were up and running very quickly.

What’s your advice to other businesses looking to keep abreast of the latest communications technology? With so many technology options in the market, it’s important to work with a trusted advisor – one that is vendor agnostic and can advise what’s best for your needs. This Microsoft Teams Voice solution had never been mentioned by our previous technology partners. Since eir evo are Tier 1 solutions partner with many leading technology brands, their expertise and experience has been invaluable. It has been a win-win collaboration.

Axis Bio’s collaboration with eir evo UK, a Microsoft Tier 1 Solutions Partner, has brought several advantages to their communication infrastructure. As an industry leader with deep expertise and experience, eir evo ensures that Axis Bio’s technology needs are met with tailored, reliable and secure solutions. Their status as a Tier 1 Partner signifies a commitment to the highest industry standards, making eir evo UK the ideal choice for seamlessly integrating solutions like Microsoft Teams Voice into Axis Bio’s operations, simplifying their communication processes and enhancing collaboration.

Recognised as a trusted advisor on how to find the right business solutions, eir evo is a Tier 1 partner with many leading technology brands including HPE, Cisco and Microsoft. Its innovative solutions and customer-first commitment has seen eir evo UK named partner of the year with many brands, helping them to get the most out of their technology.

For further information go to eirevo.co.uk