The need for an efficient and updated voicemail system prompted
Jacob Bright, senior network and telecommunication manager at Crane
Plumbing, to look for a unified communications system that could
fit his criteria.
A Meridian telephony and voicemail system from Nortel was
installed in 1999, but over time, the company -- and specifically
the Ohio branch office -- had increased the number of employees but
was left using a voicemail system that could not keep up with
employee demand.
In addition, many necessary software updates had never been
performed, leaving the system undersized and outdated.
There were too many problems that would cost more to fix than it
would cost to install a new and cutting-edge voice over IP (VoIP)
system, including unified messaging options and, in particular, a
voicemail system that would allow employees to use their time more
efficiently.
"Not doing anything was not and could not be an option for us,"
Bright said. "We didn't perform a formal ROI -- just compared what
solutions existed and went with what worked best for us."
After selecting Avaya for the new VoIP phone system, Bright
needed to find a voicemail system that would integrate well with
the company's new IP switch. He recognized the advantages that
unified messaging could offer Crane's employees. With the need for
a competent voicemail system in mind and the added return unified
communications would eventually be able to offer, Bright searched
for a system that could continually return savings to the company
over a number of years.
Following some research, he found AVST's CallXpress, which met
all of his criteria by offering a scalable system that had
easy-to-use voicemail and integrated well with the new VoIP
system.
CallXpress also offers Crane employees good ease of use, Bright
said. It allows all activity to be handled on one interface. Help
desk staff can change user accounts, reset or create new passwords,
and set up new mailboxes without needing a manager's approval. From
the user's end, the voicemail on CallXpress proved to be highly
intuitive for Crane employees.
"CallXpress is very user friendly, unlike our old system, which
was very intimidating," Bright said. "Our employees are very
pleased with CallXpress. In fact, half of the calls after the
implementation coming in to our help desk are about how easy the
system is to use when compared to the old system."
Bright said that using CallXpress has helped to free up his time
considerably. He is able to delegate smaller tasks that previously
required his approval or presence. Now, CallXpress allows members
of his staff to perform various moves, adds and changes that used
to require an administrator.
The actual implementation was done as a forklift after hours on
a Friday night. Taking roughly five to six hours, the first
installation involved Crane's IT staff upgrading the voicemail on
150 phones and fax machines.
The new voicemail system allows for unlimited hours of record
time, while the old system gave each user only a very limited
amount of storage for old messages. AVST's CallXpress also allows
new features to be added in seamlessly, as Bright determines that
they are beneficial for employees.
"We pride ourselves in the fact that CallXpress was specially
designed to be tailored to meet the needs of any business in any
industry," said Denny Michael, AVST's vice president of
marketing.
Bright also described the new voicemail system as highly
customizable and scalable. Other administrative features of
CallXpress mean that Crane's IT team can change how messages work,
are sorted or delivered, and can work over a number of time
zones.
"CallXpress allows us to build in specific features that are not
standard as we need them," Bright said.
As Crane has time to evaluate the success of its new VoIP system
and new voicemail system, Bright will be able to determine how and
when it should be deployed to Crane's 14 other offices across North
America. When finalized, the voicemail system will support up to
5,000 users, and more unified messaging features will be added as
current problems with the Exchange Server are rectified.