Download TriCorp Federal Credit Union

®
Case Study
TriCorp Federal
Credit Union
Portland, ME
Tricorp Federal Credit Union, a Mainebased Credit Union servicing other
Credit Unions nation-wide, used a
hosted IP PBX service from VoIPnet
Technologies with Aastra IP phones to
increase productivity, introduce phone
based applications and radically
reduce telecommunication costs while
ensuring virtually 100% up time.
The cherry on top
That’s what Ryan Breault, IT manager
at Tricorp Federal Credit Union in Westbrook, Maine, calls the XML rate look-up
application that service provider VoIPnet
Technologies built for him using the Aastra XML Developer Kit.
The application, which lets users press
a feature key on their Aastra 480i CT IP
phone to get an instant display of current rates and fees on the phone’s screen,
wasn’t on Breault’s shopping list when
he went looking for a new phone system
two years ago.
“Employees can be anywhere
in the building now and still
conduct business. And the call
center people don’t have to put
customers on hold as much
while they go to a file cabinet
to find something. That helps
reduce frustration levels”
- Ryan Breault, IT Manager
Tricorp Federal Credit Union
“But we’d been dabbling with XML for
a couple of years,” Breault explains “so
when we discovered the Aastra phones
had XML built in, we found that very intriguing.”
Built-in XML is one of several reasons
VoIPnet now sells Aastra phones almost
exclusively. “The rate look-up application
is just one of many we’re developing for
clients,” notes company resident and
COO Todd Wolf.
XML certainly made the solution for Tri
corp sweeter. It already included a hosted
PBX service, trunk lines and broadband
connectivity. VoIPnet uses the BroadWorks IP voice platform from BroadSoft
Inc., with SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), and at customer sites, routers from
Edgewater Networks Inc.
Wireless convenience
The solution also included Aastra’s SIPbased 480i CT phones, another cherry
on top. The 480i CT is a state-of-the-art
IP screen phone but also has a separate
cordless handset, something not available from other suppliers, Breault says.
The mobility it allows employees makes
them way more productive. “They can be
anywhere in the building now and still
conduct business,” he says. “And the call
center people don’t have to put customers on hold as much while they go to a
file cabinet to find something. That helps
reduce frustration levels.”
Tricorp started off looking for a replacement for its five-year-old phone system,
which was prone to failure and expensive
to patch and update. “And it didn’t have
the feature set we needed,” Breault says.
Customer Profile
The Challenge
Tricorp needed to replace an outmoded, failure-prone and expensive-tomaintain phone system with a reliable,
full featured, easy-to-maintain system
that allows users to connect remotely.
The Solution
Aastra 480i CT IP telephones
VoIPnet’s BroadSoft-based hosted IP IBX solution
1 Edgewater Networks EdgeMarc
4300T
The Benefits
Custom XML “look up” application
accessible on phones saves time
Cordless handsets increase
employee mobility and productivity
Annual savings of 50% on communication costs
Highly redundant network ensuring virtually 100% up time
The replacement had to be reliable with a
full feature set and good voice quality. Tricorp employees had to be able to connect
to it remotely and use it as if they were in
the office. This was important because as
part of a green initiative, the company lets
workers stay home to work several days
a month. The new system also had to be
easy enough to administer that he could
put it in multiple remote locations as part
of a new disaster recovery – or as Breault
prefers, business resumption – plan the
firm was developing.
Now if Tricorp experiences a catastrophic
failure, employees can go home and work
and customers don’t even have to know.
“The person at the other end of the phone
has no idea whether they’re calling you at
the office – or if you’re in Taipei,” Breault
says. Employees can use a home phone or
mobile in a pinch, or take one of the Aastra 480i’s home with them. The company
is also looking into providing a softphone
to use on laptops.
Tricorp considered pitches from all the
usual suspects and was about to pull the
trigger on investing $100,000 in an IP-PBX
for headquarters and a second off-site
system for business resumption. Then
an IT colleague suggested Breault talk to
VoIPnet.
With four network control centers dotted around the U.S. and a highly redundant network, VoIPnet can ensure virtually 100% up time – crucial for Tricorp’s
business resumption strategy. “We could
lose half the country and we’d still be in
business,” Breault says.
BIG savings
The same solution features that supportTricorp’s business resumption strategy
also of course make it easy to support the
work-at-home green initiative. Another
winning aspect of VoIPnet’s BroadSoftbased hosted PBX service is that it can be
integrated easily with the Citrix system
employees were already using to remotely log in to the Tricorp network to access
applications and data.
Breault probably didn’t need the cherries
on top. VoIPnet offered everything Tricorp needed, and because it was a hosted
solution, the capital cost – mostly for the
phones – was a fraction of what the company would have paid for an on-premise
system. “We’re saving gobs of money,”
Breault says.
In fact, Tricorp will save 50% a year on
communications costs over what it would
have paid. “And that’s forever,” he notes.
“That’s a saving we’ll see every year. Plus
we have more features and more stability.
And the customer service is outstanding.
If we do have an issue, VoIPnet’s support
staff is right here.”
But it was the XML application that really
put a smile on Breault’s face and clinched
the deal. The application is proving even
more beneficial than expected.
The company was able to scrap expensive plans to equip a business resumption
facility. The beauty of a hosted IP and SIPbased solution is that users can access the
PBX from anywhere they have broadband
Internet access, make and take calls, collect voice mail and even transfer calls to
colleagues.
The rate look-up application initially helped Tricorp employees, especially contact
center agents, get rates faster – saving
employees, and customers, time. But now
the company is making the application
available to customers directly over the
VoIPnet network.
PARTNER
LOGO
Rev. 08/10
Many lines
“More and more institutions are hitting a
button on their own phones to get our
rates,” Breault explains. “Which means
they’re not tying up our contact center
lines and agents.”
The Aastra advantage
The XML capability is one of a bunch of
reasons VoIPnet consistently uses Aastra
phones. Aastra also offers a wider range
of models than competitors, its phones
integrate superbly with BroadWorks and
the EdgeMarc routers, they look much like
the Nortel phones many customers are
comfortable with – Aastra purchased portions of the Nortel legacy phone business
years ago and continues to manufacture
Nortel products – and they are “very cost
competitive.”
And Aastra has bent over backwards to
work with his company, Wolf says, helping
with XML development, supporting VoIPnet at trade shows and solving the few
problems that arise. “The support we get
from their engineering people has really
been phenomenal. Whenever we’ve had
issues, Aastra has dealt with them very
quickly.” So for Wolf too, the Aastra XML
capability is a big juicy cherry on top.
Tricorp is a corporate credit union,
meaning that its customers are other New
England credit unions.
Aastra USA
2811 Internet Blvd.
Frisco, Texas 75034
T 800 468 3266
www.aastrausa.com
Copyright © 2010 Aastra USA. Aastra, Aastra USA, MX-ONE and the Aastra Logo are trademarks of Aastra Technologies Limited in the United States, and trademarks or registered trademarks of Aastra Technologies Limited in Canada, European Union and/or other countries. All product information is subject to change
without notice. All Rights Reserved.
Aastra 480i CT IP Telephone
®