When it comes to the telecom industry, many small- to mid-size businesses have a limited view of new technology options available to them. As an agent or MSP, the key to providing the best telecom service to any client is what we call the Consultative Approach. That is, getting to know the full scope of how your customers do business, and ultimately carving out a custom, comprehensive solution that takes them to the next level.
The Client
Often, businesses have a specific set of long-term goals but struggle with how to get where they want to go, especially in terms of technology. That was the case with Keefe, Campbell, Biery & Associates (KCBA)
As an established mid-size law firm based in Chicago, KCBA provides a variety of legal services, including worker’s compensation, employment law, mediation & arbitration, general liability, and Medicare set-asides.
The Opportunity
KCBA came to one of our agents requesting help with their bandwidth. The agent could have just supplied quotes for more bandwidth and likely had a quick sell, however with the proper consultative approach, KCBA ended up with better and cheaper internet service, more bandwidth, a completely new phone system with superior functionality, virtual desktops and their entire network setup and managed in the cloud.
KCBA can now access their virtual desktops anywhere they go, from the courthouse to their own house, and every office in between. Their IT expenses are now a set constant operating expense, as opposed to variable and unexpected capital expense, and they are set-up to easily manage variations in workforce numbers and needs.
Let’s take it back to the beginning. At the start KCBA had an onsite PBX Phone system, multiple servers on site managed by an outside IT department and an outdated onsite back-up that required a major upgrade to meet compliance standards.
The law firm’s phone system was working fine, but new license fees were coming due and, like their IT infrastructure, an upgrade was needed. Their servers were nearing end of life, and switches were not PoE, they were still tied to outlets not properly cooled or secured.
Their outsourced IT expenses were not only high, but they were also unpredictable due to unplanned project work and IT related issues. During the initial discussions we learned that KCBA just assumed that they had the best solution for their needs, and they didn’t want to look at hiring an in-house IT department. Through our agent’s conversations with them, they came to quickly understand that cost and incompatibility were keeping them stagnant when they wanted to move their business forward. The question that needed to be answered was: how do they do it?
The Solution
The basic question that needed to be answered at a high level was: how can KCBA stabilize operating expenses, become compliant with security standards, increase their overall efficiency, improve ability to work remotely and remove the unexpected project expenses that had kept them from making improvements over the years? With the help of Motivity Communications’ many expert resources, the agent was able to build a working plan to address all of KCBA’s needs, and set them up for easy and smooth expansion for years to come.
Moving their network and servers to managed servers in the cloud, updating their phone system to a business class VoIP solution and revamping their back-up strategy away from disks not only addressed their technical requirements, but also opened up many new opportunities. By going ‘all-in’ with cloud services, KCBA would be able to eliminate the IT outsourcing expense altogether. With some creative work from the team, such as removing the need for a PRI by going with a VoIP phone solution, the end result was also significantly less expensive than their current situation.
Without that all-encompassing, consultative approach, Motivity and the agent could not have come up with such a targeted, custom solution to their root pain points.
Next came the work. The Motivity support team worked with KCBA to put together a new internet solution and a Point to Point for its main connection, with a network and EoC (ethernet over copper) solution for their backup. This would give them a failover in the unlikely event that the Point to Point experienced downtime.
With their first request for internet solved, it was time to move their network to the cloud to completely eliminate the need to buy equipment ever again. This not only turned a variable cost into a constant monthly cost, but also made their networking an operational expense as opposed to a capital expense. This ultimately resulted in additional tax savings, a win for any business.
Finally, the phone systems. To save on licensing fees that were coming due with the current PBX and remove the need for their current PRI, the team provided a brand new Hosted Cloud PBX (business class VoIP) phone system. This afforded KCBA additional functionality as a bonus.
The Results
Not only were all of these solutions significantly better than KCBA’s previous systems, but the Motivity Communications support team was able to deliver the overall solution for much less than they were currently spending. That means increased bandwidth, HIPPA compliancy, the creation of a failsafe for potential outages and a completely new phone systems for less than their disappointing outsourced IT department.
To put that into numbers, KCBA saved over $200,000 over a three year period while increasing bandwidth and security; not to mention that the agent has a new long-term customer that is going to trust them for years to come as they grow and new technology comes to market.
