Studies in VOIP

Telecommunications consultants and service providers increasingly focus on fact finding, problem solving, and educating their clients before installing a new system so that client expectations can remain realistic. Changing a telephone system to voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) is not as simple as switching out old telephones for new ones. A new telephone system affects the infrastructure of a company: Will the IT or telecommunications team manage the project? Is the wide area network capable of handling increased data traffic? Here, we follow three telecommunications companies from the first discussions of implementing new telephone systems through the choice and installation of new systems that help their clients stay connected to their customers.

Evolving Technology

At Lifetouch, Inc., a portrait photography company based in Eden Prairie, replacing its 12-year-old telephone system across 12 photo-developing plants and several sales offices is a big project, to say the least. Scott Kimball, the company’s senior manager of technical services, realized Lifetouch had a challenge on its hands when faced with updating the company’s private branch exchange (PBX) phone system, which is the most common kind of corporate telephony. “Basically, we’re up against old technology,” Kimball says. “The next wave of technology is server-based IP technology.” Internet protocol (IP) telephony uses data networks, such as the Internet, to perform telephone functions.

Moving into IP telephony is a little like opening Pandora's box; unforeseen issues arise as the IT department takes on more responsibility and users change over to a new system.

Kimball and Mike Mullen, vice president of corporate information systems at Lifetouch, opted to take an incremental approach to implementing the new IP telephone system. Currently, the system is undergoing a trial period  at sales offices in Phoenix and Seattle.

If everything goes according to plan, Lifetouch will introduce a unified voice messaging system, IP sets, and server-based processors, otherwise know as IP telephony, to its other offices soon.

The Approach

Since Lifetouch has a 20-year relationship with Technology Management Corporation, a technology consultancy in Shorewood, it was only natural that Kimball would go to that firm to help him narrow down the huge range of possibilities in telephone systems.

Two major factors were driving Kimball and Mullen in their quest for a new telephone system. One, technical support for the old system was becoming scarce, and vendors were discontinuing maintenance. For a company that relies on timely customer service and increased demand for orders during the busy fall and spring portrait seasons, Lifetouch couldn’t afford to spend time tracking down technicians familiar with its elderly telephone system. And as telecommunications vendors had moved on to selling and servicing newer systems, they were phasing out accessories and parts for the PBX telephones. In addition, the needs of Lifetouch’s call center agents, who field questions concerning school portraits, studio locations, and ordering additional photos, prompted the company to look at new telephone systems.

Cheryl O’Brien-Wilms, president and founder of Technology Management, and Chris Metheny, the company’s senior project manager, analyzed their customer’s needs. They asked call center managers and users, along with the information technology team that would support the new system’s data   network, “What will help you do your job?” They found that customer service agents wanted an online chatroom to discuss customer issues with each other.