4-page Case Study - Posted 10/1/2007

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MTS Allstream

Software Developer Uses Solution to Simplify Communications and Cut Travel Costs

Canada-based MTS Allstream is an IT software solution provider that develops IP-based communication solutions. The company’s managers and other employees spend much of their time on the road, visiting with customers and training staff members. As a result, these workers are heavily dependent on e-mail, voice mail, and online conferencing. Because it wanted to provide these workers with more flexible ways to communicate, Allstream sought a new solution. In mid-2007, the company deployed Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to integrate messaging, conferencing, presence, and voice capabilities. As a result, Allstream has simplified communications, improved collaboration, and decreased travel time. The company has also consolidated IT tasks and can communicate more easily and more securely internally, as well as with partners and customers.

Situation

With Office Communications Server 2007, my travel this year has been reduced 50 percent. That’s because I can meet with customers based in other cities while I’m simply sitting at my computer.  Evan Zaleschuk Director, Collaboration Technology Allstream

The ability to communicate easily and effectively is at the heart of the company’s business. For example, Allstream employees regularly need to communicate face-to-face with customers throughout Canada. “Because our employees travel a great deal, they need to stay in touch with our head office in Toronto,” says Evan Zaleschuk, Director of Collaboration Technology at Allstream. “They’re always on the phone, checking voice mail or checking their e-mail from a hotel or airport.” In addition, the company’s sales managers frequently visit customer sites in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and other cities where travel is required.

Allstream managers spend much of their time in communication with staff members and travel regularly to other Allstream offices to conduct one-on-one training sessions. “This training involves educating staff about new technology and instructing them how to sell our solutions,” says Zaleschuk.

Additionally, Allstream employees are subject-matter experts on new products and technologies, and when the company’s salespeople have questions, they need immediate access to these individuals.

To support these communications needs, Allstream uses Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to manage e-mail messaging, and employees use the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client to send and receive e-mail messages. Allstream uses Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, a solution that gives employees instant messaging and presence capabilities, and a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) phone system and Centrex voice-mail system to handle employee voice communications.

The company has recently grown with the addition of home-based workers. Even though these employees are not based in the company’s offices, Allstream still needs to provide them with a functional, reliable way to communicate with other staff members from their home offices.

Allstream decided to search for a new cost-effective communications solution that would give its employees an easy way to communicate with customers and give home-based workers the ability to collaborate with each other on projects.

Solution

Office Communications Server 2007 is simplifying communications at Allstream.… If I need to speak with someone, I simply pull up his or her name on my computer, and I can choose how to communicate.  Evan Zaleschuk Director, Collaboration Technology Allstream

Office Communications Server 2007 streamlines communications and gives users the ability to quickly choose the best communication method from within Microsoft applications. Employees who use Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, the communications client within Office Communications Server 2007, can easily set up instant messaging sessions or online conferences.

Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Messaging gives employees the ability to access their e-mail, voice mail, and calendar information from their e-mail inbox.

In early 2007, Allstream deployed Exchange Server 2007 to a small group of employees in its professional services division. The company integrated the unified messaging features of that solution with Office Communications Server 2007 and deployed a number of IP telephony-based voice devices.

For this first user group, the company implemented the native voice functionality in Office Communications Server 2007 without integrating with the PBX system. The company gave these users the ability to send and receive voice over IP (VoIP) calls between personal computers and also between a personal computer and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). By using that functionality, these employees can dial outside the Allstream infrastructure in the same manner as they could with their desk phone.

Shortly after, Allstream conducted a second implementation, during which it increased the Office Communications Server 2007 deployment to more than 200 users. That deployment centered on the product’s core functionalities, including instant messaging, presence, and Web conferencing. The company integrated its PBX phone system with Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 with the installation of AudioCodes and Dialogic gateway devices between the PBX system and the Microsoft environment. This supplemented the existing voice-mail system with Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging.

Benefits

By using its new unified communications solution, based on Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007, Allstream employees have experienced enhanced communications, simplified voice capabilities, and decreased travel time and costs. In addition, Allstream IT managers now have a consolidated way to provide administration, and the company has gained new federation capabilities with select partners.

Federation through Office Communications Server 2007 will help our customers communicate better and faster with us. That will undoubtedly lead to more revenue generation for the company.  Evan Zaleschuk Director, Collaboration Technology Allstream

Simplified Communications

Because the company’s new solution integrates voice mail and e-mail with presence, instant messaging, and online conferencing functionality, Allstream employees, sales managers, and remote workers have an easier way to communicate.

An Allstream employee, for example, can quickly see who is online by using the presence feature in Office Communicator 2007 and can then send an instant message or start an impromptu video or Web conference with that person. And, as Zaleschuk points out, employees no longer need to worry about remembering e-mail addresses and phone numbers of key contacts. “With Office Communications Server 2007, all I have to do is click on a person’s name to start communication,” Zaleschuk says. “This simplifies communication in our business, because we’re calling people based on their names and not on the person’s specific device.”
 
It helps Allstream employees reduce time and money previously spent dialing wrong phone numbers or having to write down business contacts’ numbers and e-mail addresses. “Office Communications Server 2007 is simplifying communications at Allstream both internally and with our customers,” says Zaleschuk. “If I need to speak with someone, I simply pull up his or her name on my computer, and I can choose how to communicate, whether by phone, instant message, or e-mail.”

Improved Voice Capabilities

Allstream employees who use the company’s new unified communications solution have better voice capabilities, such as the ability to have incoming phone calls forwarded to other devices. “Office Communications Server 2007 gives us powerful new functionality,” says Zaleschuk. “For example, if an employee is on a phone call and wants to bring another employee onto that call, it’s a one-touch operation. They don’t have to waste time trying to find an available conference room, or hang up and have everyone dial a conference call number.”

By using the voice functionality in Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Messaging, Allstream employees can easily forward voice-mail messages to colleagues, along with written notes if necessary. “Those kinds of features are typically not readily available in traditional voice-mail systems,” adds Zaleschuk.

The audio quality of the LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540 and LG-Nortel USB Phone 8501 telephony devices has impressed users at Allstream. The company started to have telephony conversations with customers soon after it deployed Office Communications Server 2007. “Compared with the traditional PBX phones, the call quality is extremely similar,” Zaleschuk remarks. “I don’t think anyone can tell the difference between the IP telephone devices and a traditional wireline call.”

Decreased Travel Time

Allstream consultants and sales managers have been able to lower their travel time as the result of the new solution. “With Office Communications Server 2007, my travel this year has been reduced 50 percent,” says Zaleschuk. “That’s because I can meet with customers based in other cities while I’m simply sitting at my computer in my office. Using the Web conferencing capabilities in Office Communications Server 2007, I’m actually doing more training and customer visits while traveling much less.”

Zaleschuk mentions an Allstream sales manager based in western Canada who is one of the company’s most frequent business travelers. “He does a great deal of in-person staff meetings and training sessions in our other offices,” he says. “But now, using Office Communications Server 2007, he can do many of those things using audio and video conferences. As a result, he’s reduced his travel by 25 percent.”

Consolidated IT Administration

Because of the way that Office Communications Server 2007 consolidates applications, IT administration is less complex for Allstream. The new software-powered VoIP solution of Office Communications Server 2007 is less complex to administer than the company’s PBX system because administrators can manage it through its existing Active Directory® service. “All the systems are in one place, managed through Active Directory,” says Zaleschuk. “We don’t have to have a separate directory and manage it on the PBX system. The complexity is really reduced with this solution.”

As a result, IT managers at Allstream have an easier time managing the system. “With Office Communications Server 2007, we can centralize everything, which reduces administrative overhead and makes it simple to manage the overall IT environment,” adds Zaleschuk.

New Federation Capabilities

Office Communications Server 2007 delivers new federation functionality to Allstream, which gives the company the ability to set up secure communications with trusted partners and customers. “We’re already federated with select partners. For productivity and revenue generation, we feel that federation is important for our future,” says Zaleschuk. “The customers we work with regularly can subscribe to our hosted service, which can be federated with our internal services. Federation through Office Communications Server 2007 will help our customers communicate better and faster with us. That will undoubtedly lead to more revenue generation for the company.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information by using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com/uc

For more information about MTS Allstream products and services, call (866) 883-8618 or visit the Web site at:
www.mtsallstream.com

Microsoft Office System

The Microsoft Office system is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office system, go to:
www.microsoft.com/office
 

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. 

Document published October 2007