Vertical Makes It Easy for Governments to Transform Their Communications
The Vertical Difference Is Our Experience, People, and Process
Are you a State, Local, or Education (SLED) organization that needs help with replacing aging communications technologies? The last few years were a wake-up call for many organizations that their technology was outdated and not ready for a world of remote work, staffing challenges, and an increased need for constituent engagement. If you are looking to redefine your customer experience (CX), improve remote work capabilities, or just need help replacing an aging PBX solution, then Vertical Communications is the SLED expert for you.
Vertical Communications has helped hundreds of state agencies, local governments, and K-12 and higher ed schools transform their communications with our unique implementation and support experience we call the Vertical Difference. The Vertical Difference means that you don’t have to worry about the success of the project, even with fewer resources and highly customized needs. Vertical’s unique implementation process relies on three key areas: Deep Experience, Amazing People, and a Proven Process.
Deep Experience
Many organizations offer a smorgasbord of products from hundreds of vendors, but there’s no way for them to offer real experience in the solutions they offer. Vertical focuses on a small array of products that cover all of our customer’s needs. These include 8×8, RingCentral, Five9, Mitel, and Vertical’s own array of products. In each of these areas, we have experts with years of experience designing, deploying, and supporting the solutions. Vertical’s technical team has over a thousand certifications in these products and their supporting technologies. That’s the difference you get with Vertical.
The depth of Vertical’s experience goes beyond the technologies. Vertical supports more than 159 government customers across the United States and we’ve been doing it for decades. That experience means we speak your language.
Our bid team understands that your Request For Proposal (RFP) needs to be answered thoroughly and completely. We will provide you with all of the pertinent information and will identify the exact solution that meets your needs because we’ve done it before. Our SLED-focused products with specialized pricing means that you’re not overpaying for solutions that you don’t need.
Vertical’s experience makes the contracting and purchasing process easier. We know the demands of regulatory compliance as well as getting legislative approval. We understand the government procurement requirements and have the ability to adjust our contract vehicles to match regulatory and funding requirements. If you’re looking for a simpler purchasing process, our services are also offered under a variety of national and regional buying vehicles, such as NASPO, Sourcewell, and PEPPM to make choosing Vertical as easy as possible.
When it comes to implementation, Vertical simplifies your project management. Our project managers are experienced in working across government departments and keeping everyone engaged and involved. Our technicians have implemented hundreds of systems and know how to tailor the solution to your organization. Let our team install your solution efficiently and with less effort for you. Our deep experience means you don’t have to worry.
“Looking back, it’s easy to see how critical Vertical was to our success when our team moved to a remote strategy. The [8×8] X-Series and Vertical’s implementation helped us get where we are today, providing critical tools to continue to help our community.”
Jeff Forbes, Director of Communications and Information Systems, Community Services and Employment Training
Amazing People
Vertical has built a strong heritage in communications, with a long history of working with customers in local government, higher education institutions, and schools/school districts. Our 83 lifetime NPS, a world-class customer service score that tops the industry, demonstrates that customers are glad they chose Vertical. What makes Vertical so well-respected by our customers? It’s our people.
Your first exposure to the quality of Vertical’s technical team is the Solution Engineer (SE). They bring decades of experience design and tailoring solutions to your need. The SE is your expert who will answer questions, develop solutions for your needs, and make sure you are getting what you want.
One of the key parts of the Vertical Difference is that the SE doesn’t just work with you during the sales process. Your SE stays with you once implementation begins. They provide continuity from sale to solution, so you can feel confident that Vertical will deliver what was promised. The SE also helps as the discovery and implementation process reveals new challenges so that you don’t need to worry.
The heart of the implementation process is our expert Project Managers. Many are PMP certified and all of them use proven PMI processes to manage your project. The PM keeps your project on track and in scope while keeping everyone on your team informed and up to date. Your Vertical PM is all about the details ensuring you can focus on the rest of your responsibilities.
Each of our technicians averages over 11 years of experience with dozens of technical certifications in the delivery and support of our products. Vertical maintains a rigorous training and assessment program focused on our stable of best-of-breed solutions. Because of this, we’re always winning awards and recognition from our platform partners, like Mitel and 8×8, for our mastery of their latest hardware and software. For example, last month we were recognized as a Mitel Platinum Partner, their highest distinction, based on training, education, and performance thresholds.
“When we experienced an early morning outage, the Vertical team was on it. Two different people called to check in and find a solution. They had the issue resolved within 30 minutes. Vertical is a breath of fresh air.”
Jay Kenyon, Director of Telecommunications Systems, Cobb Electric Membership Corporation
Proven Process
Vertical supports every SLED customer with a proven, repeatable process that ensures success. Our methods are tried and proven to mitigate any problems that arise. From start to finish, we can build a process that deals with any challenges because we have worked with dozens of schools, governments, and agencies just like yours. From the RFP to the final contract to full implementation, we’ve built a process that gets it right every time.
Vertical Steps to Success:
What makes our process so unique?
- We handle the contracting ourselves. This means that we can work with you on your unique contract needs. For example, each state and local agency has specific budget funding requirements. Maybe your agency is funded through a legislative mandate and needs an exemption—we can work with you on that.
- We know that any project for a SLED organization (or any other organization, for that matter) starts with reliability and security. That’s why we only partner with platforms that can guarantee 99.99% uptime, rely on redundant, geographically diverse servers, and implement enterprise-level, independently audited security that meets HIPAA, FISMA/FIPS, ISO 27001, CPNI, and SOX standards. And you can rest easy knowing that all of our customer data is tightly secured internally with industry-standard multi-factor authentication protection.
- Early in the process, we interview every department head to see how they’re affected and make sure we’re aware of any special conditions. We conduct weekly calls with the entire team—nobody is left out. And we know that just about every agency has a dedicated IT department, so we involve them early and often to make sure our solutions fit with the existing infrastructure.
- We’re experts at projects that have multiple locations. Most schools and governments are not confined to a single office or location. Luckily, we have tons of experience connecting networks, engineering numbering plans and extensions, and building out redundancy for failover between multiple locations. Vertical deployed the 450 locations of Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority on time and on budget. We can handle your multi-location needs.
- We provide continuity. The Solution Engineer from your sales process continues with you during the implementation process. When your solution cuts live, the same implementation team that worked with you stays on to resolve any lingering problems for up to 90 days. This means you are immediately talking to people who know your solution and your needs.
- Our timeline is detailed, comprehensive, and aggressive. From discovery to network assessment, equipment ordering to training, our 100-day plan keeps the project on track and all relevant departments informed of the progress. As you can see below, the Vertical team builds out a comprehensive plan for each customer that’s as unique to their project as it is thorough.
The Vertical 100-Day Plan
Click on the icons above to see the sample process.
- We’re available 24/7. When your project is complete, you are handed over to our award-winning support team. The implementation team will conduct a hand-off and make sure your solution is documented with our support experts. You have the ability to call our 800 number any time, as well as open a routine ticket by e-mail or on our customer portal. We’re available when you need us.
“It was a really good experience. I found Vertical to be very responsive, very detail-oriented. They’re always available for extra calls and trainings. You really feel like you’re getting that personal service.”
David Salinard, Information Systems Manager, Padre Dam Municipal Water District
Conclusion
More and more, we see that SLED institutions are looking for ways to build out their digital infrastructure and integrate their diverse systems to optimize every dollar. Vertical understands this… and we love to help deliver reliable and effective solutions to solve your communications challenges. Maybe you’re looking to achieve safe and resilient networks to enable remote learning for K-12 and higher ed institutions. Or you’re looking to integrate operations such as law enforcement, social workers, EMR teams, emergency rooms, and healthcare providers, so they can communicate quickly and securely. No matter what your unique challenges are, Vertical can make it easy because we have the experience, people, and process—built on years of working with local government and education institutions—to become your perfect communications partner.
It’s All About the Vertical Difference
What is the Vertical Difference? It means that our team works with you to provide expert consultation and deliver custom-designed solutions that will meet your expectations and your budget. We offer the best technologies to build out the platform that will meet your unique needs. Our world-class on-site implementation means that we’re there holding your hand as the system gets stood up and can respond to issues in minutes, not hours. And after the installation is complete, we’re still in regular communication with all relevant teams, providing support and expert guidance to keep your system running smoothly.
We get that things work a little bit differently in the government and education space and have the knowledge and experience to deliver great results. That’s why we pride ourselves on providing an experience that will leave you 100% satisfied.
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