The information we use to make decisions on how to spend and manage money is just as important as money itself, and The Motley Fool has built a loyal following due to its ability to provide that increasingly valuable information. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, The Motley Fool is a financial services site that provides analysis and market news for the world’s largest financial markets, including Europe, Asia, and North America. 

Driven to make the world smarter, happier, and richer, the teams at The Motley Fool are dedicated to helping people achieve success and security through wise financial decisions and investments. However, coordinating the internal communication services required to help provide timely and reliable investment information was “a real headache,” according to Lawrence Morrisson, The Motley Fool’s head of IT.

“Previously we were using Cisco, which worked, and for the most part we liked it,” Morrisson said. “However, it was pretty expensive and difficult to manage. We also had other employees using solutions like Skype and GoToMeeting, which led to people using different hardware and devices. There was no consistency.”

The Motley Fool’s staff’s collection of disparate tools made it difficult for employees to determine which solution to use when and to effectively communicate. Such a sprawling portfolio also made it extremely difficult for IT to manage it all and support the organization’s needs.

Morrisson and The Motley Fool solved various communication and technology challenges with Zoom’s video-first unified communications platform.

Zoom Meetings: Creating consistency

Morrisson and the IT teams at The Motley Fool were reviewing video conferencing software options when he got a call from Zoom’s sales team. After trying out Zoom’s easy-to-use features and experiencing its reliable performance, he decided to implement Zoom across the organization. Morrisson noted how Zoom’s intuitive interface made the platform easy for employees to adopt, and the flexibility of the solution allowed users to work on the device of their choosing.

“The look and feel of the product feel very consumer-focused,” Morrisson said. “And it’s a very simple install, there are no complicated steps, you just follow the steps and it works. I also really love that it works on any device. If I’m using my phone it works the same way as it does on a computer, and that’s really cool.”

Zoom Rooms: Improving collaboration

Prior to Zoom, The Motley Fool’s conference rooms were designed to support a number of solutions, each with their own hardware requirements and integrations. This meant that IT teams had to provide the physical infrastructure to support them, equipping each conference room with HDMI plug-ins and a collection of dongles and other accessories. 

Implementing Zoom, however, enabled a more consistent conference room, which led to a frictionless user experience and increased collaboration. 

“Zoom Rooms has made collaboration much, much better for us. People love the fact that we can share our screens without any cables,” Morrisson noted. “And it’s consistent between every room. Our employees walk in, they see the control panel on the desk, and they know what to expect. It’s just been hugely successful for us.”

Zoom Phone: Simplifying the stack

One other pain point for The Motley Fool was its cumbersome phone infrastructure that required extensive on-premises hardware, complex software, and significant resources to maintain. 

“We had a big Cisco infrastructure here,” Morrisson said. “We had dedicated circuits into the building, trunks for SIP lines, and desk phones, as well as Cisco’s call center product to run it all, which was quite difficult to manage.”

After experiencing Zoom’s video platform and observing its success among The Motley Fool’s staff, the IT teams decided to implement Zoom Phone. With Zoom Phone’s cloud-based phone system, Morrisson and his teams no longer had to support a wide range of hardware or an onerous communications infrastructure. 

“One of the main reasons we chose Zoom was because we wanted to simplify our stack and reduce the amount of on-premises management we were doing,” Morrisson said. “The experience that we have had with Zoom so far has been so positive, so immediately that gave us a great feeling of confidence in the Zoom Phone product right out the gate.”

Full-service communications platform

By implementing Zoom’s unified platform, The Motley Fool was able to fill in the gaps in its communications infrastructure. Employees now have a standardized communication platform, which has reduced on-premises hardware and the tedious management associated with it. And with Zoom Meetings, Zoom Team Chat, and Zoom Phone, employees can contact internal and external stakeholders via their preferred communications method while using the device of their choice. 

“The really awesome, really killer thing for us is the seamlessness and consistency of the solution,” Morrisson said. “Everyone loves it.”

Read the full case study of how The Motley Fool benefits from Zoom’s video-first unified communications platform. To learn more about all the ways Zoom can elevate your business communications, schedule a personalized demo with a Zoom product specialist today!