LA Fitness Deploys Microsoft Lync 2010 Communications Software to Reduce Costs and Optimize Operations

LA Fitness has announced its decision to deploy Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync 2010 communications software across its organizational structure to help improve its employee and customer interaction, to support sharing of information and to deliver optimized customer service. The company with a 20,000 strong workforce will roll out the Microsoft Lync 2010 communications software solution across its network of 370 clubs in the U.S.

The need to upgrade its telephone solution became increasingly necessary as the company expanded its base of operations across the country. While some of the clubs in its network had normal telephones, some of the newer locations had upgraded to VoIP solutions. To level the communication platform across its network of clubs, LA Fitness decided to go ahead with the deployment of the Microsoft Lync 2010 communications software.

In a release, George Bedar, chief information officer at LA Fitness, said, "Taking a step forward with a new solution is always a big risk, and this was no exception. But the move to Lync has been extremely well received by executive leadership because, for the first time, our entire company is on the same unified communications solution. This has significantly lowered our costs and made them very predictable and helped drive consistency in our processes, staff training, and member experience."

By selecting Microsoft Lync, LA Fitness were provided with an enterprise-level communication platform capable of delivering consistency in communication, and designed to deliver improved functionality in a cost-effective manner. The company prior to selecting Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 had evaluated a number of solutions from vendors such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Avaya Inc. The first few deployments which proved to be very advantageous soon gave way to a countrywide deployment of the Microsoft Lync solution. As soon as Office Communications Server 2007 R2 was replaced by Microsoft Lync, the company went ahead with the upgrade.

Kirk Gregersen, general manager, Lync at Microsoft, said, "There was quite a bit of existing knowledge among the developers at LA Fitness, and they have built a number of creative extensions using Lync, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SharePoint 2010. We are pleased to see them using these extensions to help streamline the application process, find the location of club managers, answer employee questions, identify substitute class instructors, and train new hires more effectively."