Carnes Group

IT Company Dives into Communications with Ease, Extends Offerings with Phone System

Partner: Carnes Group
Web Site: www.carnesgroup.com
Partner Size: 10 employees
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Professional services - IT Services

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Partner Profile

Franklin, Tennessee–based Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Carnes Group provides IT infrastructure services and support to small and medium-sized businesses across the United States.

Software and Services

Microsoft Response Point™
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
- Windows® Small Business Server 2003
- Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise Edition

"The moment I saw Response Point, I knew we should be offering it—it knocked my socks off."

Ed Carnes, Chief Information Officer, Carnes Group

Business Needs

Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Carnes Group has 10 employees and provides IT infrastructure services to small and medium-sized businesses in Tennessee and across the United States. The company turns to subcontractors and other Microsoft Certified Partners to augment its staff to deliver its services nationwide and in the United Kingdom.

Companies rely on Carnes Group for one-stop IT services and support. This expectation oftentimes extends to phone systems as well—an offering that Carnes Group has traditionally not supported. Explains Ed Carnes, Managing Partner and Chief Information Officer of Carnes Group, "We are an IT infrastructure company that focuses on server systems and networking. We did not choose to be a more traditional phone company that had to deal with switches and wiring."

However, Carnes understood that customers are in search of IT companies that can provide more comprehensive services. Initially, the IT firm didn’t want to support more traditional phone services, but realized that phone systems providers didn’t have the same reservations about expanding their own offerings to IT support.

Years of experience working with small to medium-sized businesses left the company fully capable of understanding the phone system needs of its customers. Carnes found that when it came to phone systems, small and medium-sized companies currently faced two issues:

Cost. Many phone systems are too costly for these businesses to deploy and support on their own.
Complexity. Many phone systems are difficult to use; users can’t readily modify settings, add new phones, or move the system if office locations change.

Solution

Carnes Group saw Microsoft Response Point™ phone system software as a perfect solution for expanding its business into telephony. Specifically, the system meshed well with both the needs of Carnes Group and its customers:

With Microsoft Response Point, the average PC user can set up a phone or make system changes in minutes using a simple Windows®-based management center. The system supports voice over IP and traditional phone lines, integrating with Microsoft Exchange Server to deliver voice mail to Microsoft Office Outlook® clients and mobile devices.
Microsoft Response Point also works with Windows Small Business Server, Windows Server®, and more, making it a natural extension of the offerings supported by Carnes Group.

Says Carnes, "The moment I saw Response Point, I knew we should be offering it—it knocked my socks off. The system met our needs and our customers’ needs—it is easy to set up, easy to maintain, and very portable."

Phones as an IT Offering

Carnes Group reached out to the Microsoft Response Point team with inquiries into becoming a phone system services provider. The team pointed the company to Quanta, a manufacturer of the phone system hardware that runs Microsoft Response Point, and Carnes Group began working with a Field Trial unit. The company witnessed early success, installing the system at its own offices in one day and, over the course of only three weeks, establishing the complete skill set needed to offer the solution to customers.

To drive sales of Microsoft Response Point, the company targeted new and existing customers by suggesting two strong value propositions that the product offers:

Price. Carnes Group uses the price point—noted as 40 to 50 percent less than similar systems—to generate interest among customers. Cost advantages extend to support as well. For instance, if someone needs to move an extension from one office to another, any user can simply unplug the phone and plug it back in—without needing to reach out to an IT team.
Mobility. Carnes Group markets the Microsoft Response Point offering as part of its Unified Communications and Mobility solution. The solution touts the advanced features of Microsoft Response Point, including the delivery of voice-mail messages in users’ e-mail inboxes, which are accessible through mobile devices.

Deployment and Support

For Carnes Group, a typical Microsoft Response Point deployment includes the identification of customer requirements, such as extension numbers and call routing processes. The actual physical deployment, which includes training, takes around six hours, and entails: setting up pop-up notifications for calls, importing contacts from Exchange Server, and locking down the MAC address for the base unit and phones. Then, Carnes Group installs the administrator console on one of the customer’s PCs and the server, allowing for internal support and external support through remote desktop and Terminal Services.

Benefits

By becoming a provider of Microsoft Response Point, Carnes Group has quickly added a new service offering, helping the company effectively target a broader spectrum of customer needs. Says Carnes, "With Response Point, we can manage a client’s entire IT environment for them. We don’t have to worry about another company coming in to deal with the phones and saying they can manage the networks, too."

Expand Offering with Ease

With Microsoft Response Point, Carnes Group provides its customers with a more complete package along with its other IT services. The company has enjoyed success with the offering right away, providing the solution to five customers in the first six months of offering the phone system. The company projects future sales of more than three units per month and estimates that Microsoft Response Point and related Unified Communications and Mobility offerings will account for approximately 20 percent of the company’s revenue.

Use Existing Skills to Add New Line of Business

In addition to using Microsoft Response Point as part of a comprehensive IT package, Carnes Group has now solidified its role as a small-business phone system provider. Carnes notes that installing the system has required little training on the part of his consultants. Says Carnes, "Unlike other phone systems, installing Response Point isn’t that different than installing a PC, so it fits with the core skills of our existing staff."

Deploy and Support with Confidence

With Microsoft Response Point, Carnes Group can offer a phone system without worrying about the additional wiring and digital switching equipment that accompany traditional PBX systems. Says Carnes, "Response Point solves our customers’ communication and phone needs without requiring any extensive wiring."

Because Microsoft Response Point fits into a managed-services model, Carnes Group can quickly react to customer needs. Carnes Group maintains fully functioning Response Point demo systems in its office using virtualization technology from Microsoft and a full Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Windows Vista®, and Windows XP environment. Carnes Group also uses its own deployment of Microsoft Response Point to further improve responsiveness to customers. "Response Point has revolutionized how we can support our customers. We have set up a support and services extension so that when people call into Carnes Group, an e-mail message as well as the call, is routed to the appropriate consultants for the job."

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies