VOICE
NETWORKS

From the January 2006  issue of Communications News

VoIP improves service levels

Switch to new communications platform also allows for conferencing and collaboration capabilities.

Dallas-based ePartners always has a lot on its plate, relying on a network of 23 remote offices throughout North America and the United Kingdom to provide IT consulting services that include selling and deploying a myriad of business solutions developed by ePartners and Microsoft. It is a fast-paced, dynamic environment, where new solutions are frequently launched, sales strategies are quickly developed and teams of professionals are instantly dispatched to ensure that customers can reap the benefits of these new solutions within their own businesses as quickly as possible. Speed to market is critical for ePartners’ success–there is no margin for error.

In the past, ePartners utilized an application service provider to deliver regular presentations to its sales associates throughout its network. While this solution was considered efficient, it was also expensive. During certain periods, for example, ePartners would spend up to $30,000 per month on conferencing services.

ePartners also spent a significant amount of money on a legacy communications system that was growing increasingly outdated and unable to handle the company’s evolving demands. Since ePartners’ outsourced collaboration system was not compatible with its legacy PBX, the company regularly faced redundant communications costs and an inefficient use of the enterprise infrastructure.

“There were a number of factors that contributed to our decision to re-evaluate the communications technology we use,” recalls Travis Grubbs, IT manager for ePartners. “Certainly, the existing platform we were using did not offer the scalability and flexibility we needed to keep pace with the growth of our business. Adding new extensions and modifying call coverage patterns were labor-intensive and cumbersome activities. And the limited feature set meant that we could never really implement a system that was as seamless and user friendly as we would have liked.”

According to Grubbs, technology was just part of the challenge ePartners needed to overcome.

“The biggest concern, however, was the fact that our communications expenses escalated to the point where they nearly spun out of control,” he continues. “Spending some $30,000 per month on just conferencing and collaboration services was a huge financial drain for the company. We needed to immediately identify a new solution that would deliver the advanced technology we needed, while drastically reducing the company’s communications expenditures.”

ePartners met with several vendors, including the manufacturer of its legacy system, to determine how it could leverage IP technology, while meeting the primary objective of reducing communications costs. After carefully considering a number of options, ePartners selected an Inter-Tel solution.

The first step in revamping ePartners’ communications system was to provide a solid foundation that could easily handle the company’s complex communications requirements, as well as offer the flexibility the company needs to properly manage the inevitable change that occurs within growing businesses. Inter-Tel’s Axxess communications system was selected.

With the Axxess platform serving as the nexus of its communications network, ePartners still needed to integrate other elements to help drive down its high communications costs, particularly those associated with its Web-based collaboration sessions. Again, Inter-Tel had a solution that would help ePartners increase productivity while substantially reducing costs.

“While we were meeting with Inter-Tel to discuss our short- and long-range plans, we learned that the company recently released a series of premise-based collaboration applications,” explains Grubbs. “We were intrigued by the idea of integrating collaboration and presence capabilities into our core communications platform, and saw that as a possible means to help us reduce our reliance on Web-based services.”

Inter-Tel’s eCollaboration Solutions is made up of a suite of presence-management and collaboration tools that include desktop Web and videoconferencing, desktop sharing and file sharing, recording, and archiving features to preserve training sessions. Furthermore, the suite includes a full range of presence-management capabilities that enable team members to define, control and prioritize how, when, where and from whom they receive incoming calls.

The last piece of the puzzle in delivering a communications solution to ePartners occurred when the company opted for Inter-Tel’s managed services program, which provides an end-to-end solution that includes all voice communications hardware, software and endpoints, advanced applications, data network planning and provisioning, carrier services, ongoing service and support, and the ability to seamlessly migrate to new technology when it makes business sense.

In Web conferencing services alone, ePartners has reduced that $30,000 per month to about $10,000 per month.

“From both a productivity and financial perspective,” concludes Grubbs, “we have a system that has the flexibility to meet our needs well into the future, and our associated costs are now a fraction of what they once were.”

This article was provided by Inter-Tel, Phoenix.

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