For some organizations, the phones have to ring for the business to thrive. What happens when your phones go down for a few minutes? Lack of productivity and lost revenue, right? Now, picture what would happen if your entire phone system went down for 10 to 15 minutes per day — every day.
You’re tensing up just thinking about it, aren’t you? But that was the reality for a national mortgage lender headquartered in the Southwest. The phone system had become a major pain point.
“When you have more than 400 employees across the country and most of your business is done over the phone, you absolutely need a phone system that works,” explains MicroAge’s Adam Rankin. “In this case, the service provider couldn’t identify the problem and fix it. Frankly, that’s unacceptable.”
Adam worked to help the company’s office manager find the right solution for the organization’s needs.
At the time, the company had about a dozen offices with plans to double that. “They knew they were going to open a lot of offices,” he notes. “And they didn’t want to grow their current phone system.”
But unbeknownst to them, their contract with the provider had been extended to 2017. So, for starters, MicroAge worked on the client’s behalf to re-negotiate the contract to the end of 2015.
Then, Adam and the client discussed their options for collaboration platforms.
Cisco Collaboration Platform
The client chose the Cisco collaboration platform, Business Edition 6000, which is more than a VoIP phone system, also offering video, messaging, presence, and chat for every user, anywhere, on any device.
“This system has allowed the client to get stickier with their customers and for the entire organization to work together more efficiently,” says Scott Otero, a territory account manager for Cisco. “As consumers we don’t see the whole lending process. But as a lender, they have to be in tune with the title company, with buyers, with sellers, with agents. That’s a lot of people to come together. And this platform has allowed all those systems and parts to work together internally and externally.”
Plus, users of the Cisco collaboration platform find that the interface is exceptionally user-friendly, he adds.
Even more good news for the client: The Cisco system was more affordable than they’d expected — and even less expensive than their previous (severely flawed) system. “The per-user cost has gone down dramatically — by about half,” Adam says.
Over the course of six months, the company installed a fiber network and progressively rolled out the new system in its various offices. The full solution included Cisco IP phones (7841) for individual desktops and Unified IP Conference Phones (8831) for the conference rooms as well as 4321 Integrated Services Routers and Cisco 4331 Integrated Services Routers. Cisco UCS servers and Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches rounded out the solution.
“They love it,” Adam says. “It never goes down.”
Explore MicroAge’s telecom solutions.
With Adam’s guidance, the client has a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network with CenturyLink.
The MPLS network was built to provide connectivity for the phone system. By leveraging QoS on the carrier network, call quality will be much higher, resulting in a much better end user experience.
And with an outside data center hosting their replicated data, they have extra assurance.
“They’ll basically never go down,” Adam says. “The peace of mind is significant — but even more significant was the business impact.”
The return on investment is hard to fully quantify.
Just think about your own business; How much does a business stand to lose when the phones go down?
Gain confidence in your collaboration strategy.
Let’s talk.
MicroAge can assess your current system and find a collaboration solution that works for your needs and budget. Speak with an expert today. Call us at 800-544-8877.
