Features

Ajax Paving Industries was moving its headquarters and needed to network 18 facilities together over a high-speed voice and data network, but the objective of increasing the company’s overall connectivity and productivity presented a challenge. The Troy, Mich.-based firm also wanted to reduce calling costs between offices, and to its customers and vendors, while maintaining the ease of use of its existing systems.

To meet its goals, Ajax turned to CTS/Unitel, which recommended the installation of two Toshiba Strata CTX670 business communications systems, one at the Ajax headquarters and a second at another large site. For 16 remote sites, CTS/Unitel recommended IP telephones connected to the Strata CTX670 systems via frame relay.

The frame relay network connects these locations together, and there are no local central office lines at the remote sites. Calls to and from the remote IP telephones are routed through the CTX670 at the corporate office, eliminating the need for individual telephone systems at the various sites. The second CTX670 also serves as a redundant system.

Creating a centralized business communications system and utilizing pure IP telephony for the remote sites eliminated the need for Ajax Paving to have individual telephone systems at each location. It also allowed the elimination of multiple central office lines at each remote location, a cost savings every month.

In addition, using IP telephony allowed Ajax Paving to take advantage of its existing high-speed frame relay network, benefiting from sharing the cost for both voice and data communications. The frame relay backbone connects all the sites and is able to handle a greater number of calls with more reliability than did individual systems at the 18 sites, according to Jim Friel, CFO at Ajax. Having a centralized voice mail system has also allowed the company to eliminate answering machines at remote sites, and all employees now have their own voice mailboxes.

Today, all calls between the 18 sites are free and are dialed as four-digit extensions, just as if everyone was located in the same facility. With more than 70 IP telephones located at the 16 remote sites, eliminating calling costs between locations delivers significant savings.

“With four-digit extension dialing, our employees can now communicate more effectively, which improves productivity,” says Friel. “We’re also happy to have all the calls be toll-free.”

The CTX670 and Toshiba telephones have also helped Ajax Paving improve customer service, according to Friel. “Our employees can forward their calls or voice messages to their cell phones, so important calls always get through to them. With so many mobile employees, giving them the ability to forward calls helps improve customer service and helps everyone be more productive.

“Caller ID and having the ability to forward calls empowers us to give our customers a more personal response,” he says. “In addition, for our remote sites, customers are not relegated to an answering machine anymore. They can dial directly into our employee’s voice mail or zero out to go back to the operator at our headquarters.”

Many of Ajax Paving’s existing Toshiba components from the older Strata DK424 and DK280 systems were re-used in the Strata CTX670 systems, including existing digital telephones and printed circuit boards. (Editor’s note: Toshiba has recently introduced its Strata CIX family of IP business communication systems, which replaces the Strata CTX, which can be TDM-enabled, and allows users to keep and re-use their digital and analog telephones, as well as many other components.)

“Our employees had no down time when we moved to the new system,” Friel says. “Whether they kept their old Toshiba telephone or got a new one, they were able to begin using it immediately. And, when they move from office to office, they can use the telephones at any location to access voice mail, make calls and take calls–without having to relearn anything.”

By implementing the Toshiba IP platform, Ajax Paving was able to reduce its telecom costs by more than $4,000 per month. This was accomplished by reducing central office lines at remote locations and using the feature set of the new system to route all the long-distance calls through the network and out a single T-1. This allows Ajax Paving to get the best rate on long-distance calling, reduce the overhead costs of having multiple receptionist positions, and enhance customer service by being able to route calls directly to the appropriate site.

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