The company decided on a hybrid managed solution allowing them the benefits of an out-sourced solution with the control of an in-house deployment. They decided to purchase the call processing equipment and host in Equivoice's secure carrier-class data center. Not only did this provide for greater redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities, using Equivoice for the hub of their network reduced the number of required circuits to connect all their sites. Bonded T1 circuits provide Internet access, local & long distance calling, and data connectivity to HQ servers. All circuits are provisioned with priority queuing to ensure voice traffic is processed before data traffic. This practice is sometimes referred to Quality of Service (QoS) in a converged voice and data network.
Cisco Systems has both the voice equipment and data network to deliver a fully converged solution from a single equipment vendor. The company uses Cisco Call Manager for call processing, Cisco Unity Voicemail, and Cisco IP Contact Center Express in the distribution call center. Cisco Integrated Service Routers provide network edge connectivity with Cisco Catalyst Layer 2/3 switches used for the converged voice and data LAN at each site. The Catalyst switches allow the company to maintain data security while Equivoice monitors the network performance.
Equivoice techs provide day to day moves/adds/changes and ship new equipment "plug-and-play". For example, the company needed wireless phones inside the warehouse for the shipping and receiving staff. Cisco Aironet Wireless Access Point and Cisco 7920 wireless IP phones were shipped with a week and easily integrated into the network.
BUSINESS VALUEThe company achieved measurable cost savings with this project. They reduced network wide communication costs by $5,000 per month, or $60,000 per year. Three receptionists were redeployed, reducing annual operational expenses by about $140,000.
Additionally, they realized tangible soft costs with improved employee productivity. The IT staff was able to focus on revenue generating projects instead of break/fix problems. This occurred because Equivoice monthly services include technical support staff for 24x7 network monitoring and remote programming of moves/adds/changes. Inbound calls reached the right customer support person right away, without the need of live operators, multiple transfers, or customer call backs.
NEXT STEPSAs the company continues to grow and acquire new businesses, it plans to further enhance its network to support new applications such as Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for conferencing and customer training.
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