* A small company's journey into VoIP
Currid & Company took its first foray into VoIP a few months ago. Although we are a small company, we are technology-savvy and so we figured implementing VoIP would be fairly straightforward and easy. But we discovered that implementation, even on a very small scale, can be a challenge.
A small company like ours has telephony requirements that aren’t much different than those of much larger corporations. We need a system with an individual voicemail box for each employee, the ability to transfer calls, offers conference call capabilities, and some form of directory service that we can all access. We also want to be able to handle moves, additions and changes (MAC) ourselves. The system has to integrate with our existing network and outsourced e-mail setup.
For our first attempt, we selected an Avaya system. Avaya has what appears to be a great system for an enterprise. It has so many features that we were overwhelmed, especially since none of us has any traditional telephony expertise. While Avaya’s support was really great, the system was complex and not a good fit for a small company like ours.
Next, we moved on to a Cisco solution. Cisco generously sent two systems engineers to our office to get us set up. As a bonus, Cisco even supplied us with equipment to allow us to do Video and VoIP (VaVoIP). VaVoIP is a very cool feature, but the e-mail integration option required an in-house e-mail server, which we don’t have. Although Cisco has a top-ranked VoIP solution, we did occasionally experience phone/network problems and dropped calls. Those sporadic problems were more than likely caused by our network topology, which we weren’t prepared to troubleshoot and fix.
Hoping that the third try would bring us closer to our ultimate solution, we selected a ShoreTel solution. Houston-based Total Technologies (Total-Tec), a ShoreTel premier reseller and partner, offered to help us with the implementation. Total-Tec sent out an engineer with a full complement of equipment and had us up and running in less than a day. That included setting up the ShoreTel server, installing the equipment, setting up our accounts, and testing it all out.
We’ve had the ShoreTel system in place for more than a month, and we’re very pleased with the results. The signal is clear for each and every call. We’re not experiencing dropped calls anymore. Perhaps best of all, we’ve already seen how this system can save us money. One of the system’s cost-effective features is the ability to direct calls to specific lines or services based on criteria we specify. For example, we have all of our outgoing long-distance routed through one of the flat-rate broadband long distance carriers, saving us real money every month.
Of all the features found in the ShoreTel solution, my favorite is the tight integration with our outsourced e-mail system. Every time I start my computer, the ShoreTel software reads and imports my Outlook contacts into my own personal phone book. I can configure it to pop up the Outlook contact information when it recognizes the incoming phone number, giving me instant access to personal information as to who’s on the other end. What’s more, I can listen to my messages through my e-mail client and I can forward them as e-mail attachments, complete with my own comments in the body of my e-mail. Cool!
Administration of the ShoreTel system is quite intuitive, especially for an IT guy like me with no telephony training. Even though ShoreTel’s system is built as a distributed architecture, it features centralized management allowing the IT department to control the entire system from one location. Account management, MACs, hunt group creation, POTS (plain old telephone service) integration – all aspects of system administration are handled through a single intuitive interface. And if you get stuck, there’s a great online help system that will walk you through just about any administrative task you need to perform.
A large portion of the cost of implementing a VoIP solution can be attributed to labor. If you are planning an installation, do not underestimate the time and skills needed to scope the system, evaluate the readiness of the network, and conduct the installation. In my opinion, this is a job best left to the experts and not foisted on the IT generalist. I’m glad to see organizations like CompTIA addressing the need for telephony certifications, as there is a real requirement for this expertise. (See links below for more about CompTIA’s VoIP certification initiatives.)
Before I end, I must also complement Total-Tec for its wonderful customer service. Any questions I could put in an e-mail were answered the same day; a quick phone call resolved the rest. Not that we’ve had many questions, as we’ve found this system to be easy to use as well as simple to administer. I would have no qualms recommending a ShoreTel VoIP solution to other small businesses.
Michael Day is Chief Technology Officer for Currid & Company. You can write to him at mailto:michael.day@currid.com
