Company:
In 2002, Suncoast Technology Partners was formed for the purpose of providing expert
consulting and software products, designed to help manufacturers in the area of
planning and scheduling across the United States, Europe and Australia. For the
past eight years, Suncoast has been helping manufacturers with issues surrounding
forecasting, planning, scheduling and production tracking. They step in when a manufacturer
needs expertise in understanding and applying best practice processes and systems
specific to their industry.
Challenge:
The IT consultanting company wanted to take advantage of the many features available
with Open Source solutions and VoIP. It needed to be scalable and a cost effective
way to increase the efficiency of communication between employees and clients without
sacrificing reliability and productivity.
“When we opened our first office two years ago we knew that we would need
a phone system that would not only support that office, but would also support our
current employees located across the country as well as future employees,”
explains Dan Hahn, President of Suncoast Technology Partners. Like many other business
owners, Dan Hahn and his partner had heard about Open Source but didn't really know
too much about it. The idea that they could have a product with so many features
was more than just intriguing, it was worth the time and effort to research it.
Suncoast's main requirements were that the system would be scalable for a growing
business and could handle remote VoIP connections that would behave as though they
were just another office extension.
Initially, cost was the reason behind why Suncoast's owners wanted to implement
a trixbox and VoIP solution. They knew a trixbox/VoIP solution could give their
growing business an advantage. Hahn had an extra box where he would install trixbox
CE 2.2 and then only have to purchase a $400 Digium card so they could begin testing.
While implementing a trixbox/Asterisk solution was an office experiment, choosing
a VoIP provider was not going to be. Hahn and his team spent about two weeks researching
trixbox and their local Verizon's Voicewing service, building the system and testing.
The team would learn a lot in the next eight months.
“We had customers that would ask if we could call back on a cell phone because
the connection was so bad with Verizon,” Hahn recalls. Unacceptable latency
issues combined with Caller ID problems and occasional outages, weekly support calls
to Verizon were common. While tackling these issues with Verizon, Hahn and his team
simultaneously took the time to educate themselves further on VoIP technologies
and look into using different types of codecs. As they learned more about VoIP,
they began to understand the technology and knew it was time for a new service provider.
“We also realized early on that while the support staff at Verizon were very
friendly, they really didn't have the knowledge to support the technology they were
selling,” says Hahn. While researching new providers, “everyone was
surprised to find out there were so many independent providers that were not serious
about selling to businesses,” Hahn adds. He needed a VoIP provider that could
truly support the product and service they were selling. They needed a business
solution, not a something for a hobbyist. So Hahn went to work researching providers,
learning what they had to offer and studying reviews. Finally, the reviews is led
him to VoicePulse. VoicePulse had everything they were looking for when it came
to setup and pricing, but what sold him was the free trial offer.
Solution:
Solid customer reviews led Hahn to VoicePulse and the availability
of a free trial was ideal so as to not make the same mistake twice that they had
with Verizon.
Concerned that the latency issues would follow them, the VoicePulse Free Trial account
seemed like the logical choice. Hahn could combine his trixbox setup with VoicePulse
and see if latency and clarity would be a problem before making a full switch. Less
than five minutes to setup and less than ten minutes of testing VoicePulse, the
answer was obvious. The latency was gone and calls were crystal clear. With no additional
adjustments necessary, Suncoast was sending its outgoing calls through VoicePulse
that same day. Without hesitation Hahn began porting Suncoast's main business number
to VoicePulse.
In addition to call quality improvement, combining VoicePulse with trixbox had even
more benefits. Since Suncoast employees travel extensively, for clients being able
to reach consultants wherever they were was very important. Employees working on
site or from home could have SIP extensions as though they were working in the office.
This couldn't be achieved with the previous Verizon/trixbox setup. Suncoast's remote
connections were successfully achieved with a mix the codecs GSM, G711 alaw and
G711 ulaw. Something else Hahn's employees really wanted was Bluetooth proximity
detection in the office. When an employee walked out the door for a job, the call
would be automatically forwarded to his or her cell phone. Coming back to the office,
the phone system could detect the cell phone and route the call back to that individual's
desk. Verizon only provided two lines, so a single call would tie up both lines.
VoicePulse automatically provides four channels so that Hahn was able to use this
feature immediately and without an additional cost.
Conclusion:
Since implementing VoicePulse, Suncoast's monthly phone costs
are a third of what they had been with Verizon. Hahn and his consultants can be
reached anytime, anywhere by their clients, which is critical for their clients.
Looking back to when Hahn and his partner started their business, they didn't give
much thought to the phone system, but today, Hahn believes, “that the office
and phone system have given us credibility which will continue to help us grow our
business.”
See what others are saying about VoicePulse
“The IENetwork exists to provide technology solutions to
insurance professionals. All of our solutions are cloud-based, and the T1/PRI/POTS
setups didn't fit that model. We need a solution that is inexpensive, reliable,
and has a quick setup. If you throw in no long-term contracts, awesome prepaid pricing,
and easy integration with Asterisk, now you have VoicePulse!
You gotta love a solution that just works. I've built a test box running trixbox
CE to do some testing on before we put this into production. I was able to install
the FreePBX module in trixbox CE [2.6] very easily and then give it my API key.
Everything worked so smoothly and within minutes I was making calls. Great job!
“
- Nate, Insurance Experts
Network LLC
“While visiting one client I received a phone call from the
client I was visiting. I was in an office on the other side of themanufacturing
plant and they didn't know how to find me, so they planned on leaving a message
on my voicemail. The call was automatically forwarded to my cell phone, and the
client was surprised that I picked up. I have also had clients that are surprised
that "I am at the office so late", or that I am at the office on weekends.
We have built our business on being available when the customer needs us.“
- Dan Hahn, President Suncoast Technology Partners
“A monthly savings of $2750!
To avoid a $20,000 upgrade, we used VoicePulse along with Asterisk and a $400 computer
running Linux. Local Number Portability allowed us to transfer all of our remote
call forward accounts to VoicePulse and reduce costs from $1000 to $250. Our long
distance went from $2000 to $0! A monthly savings of $2750. Thank you VoicePulse.“
- KF, Chicago, IL
“No one comes close to what I have seen from VoicePulse.
We are a 60 seat call center in the business of live voice transfers. We began planning
the big change from our 100 analog lines to Asterisk and SIP termination. Less than
a year later, our center terminates 100% of our calls using Asterisk and SIP with
savings averaging $6000 per month in line and per minute fees.
After researching several other companies that offer similar services no one comes
close to what I have seen from VoicePulse -- great customer service, no monthly
fees, and no minimum usage contracts made the decision for us.“
- Justin, Banctel.com,
Troy, MI
“Quality of service that we demand.
We provide document management services for hospitals all across the country and
have to be available 24/7 to retrieve medical records for our clients. With our
local phone company, our bills were running several hundreds of dollars each month.
We implemented an Asterisk server and tied it in with VoicePulse for our long distance
needs, with Failover to the local lines in case our Internet connection went down.
Due to the nature of our business, we couldn't rely on just any phone provider.
VoicePulse was chosen after a couple of failed attempts with other providers who
couldn't provide the quality of service that we demand.“
- Tony, HCR Imaging
Inc., White Sulphur Springs, WV
“They have the market cornered.
As a system integrator we are always looking for ways to save our customers money
and provide them with the best technology. This particular customer has 5 remote
locations and is constantly on the phone around 10,000 minutes a month outbound
and 14,000 inbound. We have been working with several carriers for termination services,
then we switched to VoicePulse and not only did our customer cut its monthly costs
in half, but the voice quality of the service is superior to the rest. From VoicePulse's
quick integration to trixbox via the module to its team of highly trained support
staff, they have the market cornered.“
- Brandon, Krove Corporation,
Doral, FL
“The setup was almost unreasonably easy.
We are pleased to say that VoicePulse saved us from deciding VoIP/Asterisk was not
going to work for us. We tried four different carriers before stumbling upon VoicePulse's
service. The setup was almost unreasonably easy with the sample files being correct
and complete! VoicePulse's trunks were up in just minutes (and I mean 2 or 3 at
the most.) In a world of "bush-league" services, your service has helped us to appear
as one cohesive team to our clients without spending thousands of dollars.“
- Darrell, Conservation Resource Solutions
“Up and running in less than 15 minutes.
After reviewing several online forums I discovered that VoicePulse was recommended
as a reliable VoIP provider. I was skeptical and decided to give it a try. The service
was up and running in less then 15 minutes thanks to the VoicePulse FreePBX module
for Asterisk and the FREE trial period. The trial period ran several days without
problems so I decided to port my existing phone numbers to VoicePulse and terminate
my AT&T service. My monthly bill has been reduced by 75%, goodbye AT&T.“
- Mark, Concerto Networks of Indianapolis, San Diego, CA
“VoicePulse is now our 'go to' company.
We started our business to fill the ever-growing need for small businesses in our
community to have full featured VoIP phone systems without the terribly high costs
involved with traditional PBX-based systems. We did quite a bit of searching for
a single source provider for SIP based origination and termination. VoicePulse was
the only provider we could get instant access to DID numbers, easy integration with
our Asterisk systems, and four channels with a basic account.
VoicePulse is now our 'go to' company. Thanks and keep up the good work! Your customer
service people are great to work with.“
- Oliver, Senior Principal, Voice Over KC, LLC