Color Imaging Stays Connected Around the Globe with ViewPoint Mobile

Color Imaging Inc.

Background

Color Imaging develops, manufactures and distributes ink and toner for copiers and printers. Its main U.S. facility in Norcross, Georgia, accommodates close to 45 employees. The company  also has a branch office in Colorado, plus additional locations in Taiwan and Spain. Its highly mobile executive team traverses between offices and countries, while its U.S. technicians are often deployed in the field.

The company had been dealing with an antiquated phone system and an expensive long-distance carrier for y ears, incurring toll charges for calls between its widespread locations. Not only did the system lack any software applications or messaging capabilities, the voice quality was poor, and the hardware was faltering. There was no way to monitor or report on-call activity, or monitor the performance of inside salespeople.

“Color Imaging knew what a sophisticated unified communications system could mean for the company,” said Jerry Rainey, senior account manager at Fulton Communications, a national technology provider with offices in the Atlanta, Georgia, region. “The organization needed to improve call quality and functionality, and wanted to utilize a reporting system that would help manage the sales team, and measure their effectiveness. It also wanted a reliable system that would mirror the company’s data and programming, allowing for quick back-up in the instance of an outage. The current system was not only lacking these capabilities, but the hardware was simply beyond refurbishing.”

Solution

Fulton presented Color Imaging with a plan to implement Vertical Communications’ Wave IP unified communications platform. Not only could this solution streamline costs and create efficiencies through an IP-based architecture, its advanced capabilities would establish connectivity throughout the enterprise, allowing Color Imaging’s staff to extend functionality to their laptops and cell phones, and accommodate detailed call reporting.

“The first motivation for us to implement the Wave IP system was to reduce costs,” said Frank Shaw, Color Imaging’s IT director. “We were able to save close to 45 percent on our phone bills immediately, which helped to justify the investment.” Savings in this area was close to $800 per month.

In addition to saving money, the system quickly proved how much time it could save employees. The Wave’s core ViewPoint unified communications interface provided users throughout the organization with the ability to quickly connect and collaborate through features including presence management, conference calling, voice mail, secure instant messaging and more. And with the embedded ViewPoint Mobile application, the phone system’s advanced capabilities were easily extended to Color Imaging’s mobile employees, giving them the ability to access all communications features on their personal devices, regardless of location.

The Wave’s Call Reporting application was also deployed to deliver detailed visibility into the sales team’s activities. Color Imaging’s previous system had no ability to generate reports, and the company was eager to use the Call Reporting tool to monitor call records to analyze and improve the outcomes of its sales group.

As a global business, Color Imaging also demanded bona fide disaster recovery capabilities. The Wave platform includes Live Image software that provides a snapshot of the programming across the network, creating redundant resources that can be used to restore the system within hours.

Results

Color Imaging takes full advantage of Wave’s comprehensive features. Its powerful ViewPoint Mobile application gives its travelling employees the ability to use the full functionality of Wave from any location. When personnel visit satellite locations, or even customer sites, they can easily enter the system remotely, and utilize the UC network as freely as if they were in the Georgia headquarters.

“If my boss wants to reach me from Taiwan, he can simply open the ViewPoint app on his iPhone and hit my extension,” noted Shaw. “ViewPoint Mobile allows us to carry our phone extensions right on our cell phones. This enhances our ability to conduct business seamlessly, and at a lower expense.”

Color Imaging has also implemented a bonus structure for its sales team based on Wave’s reporting capabilities, which now conduct customized tracking of outgoing and incoming calls, call length, and abandoned or dropped calls. Each month, sales people receive bonuses based on their performance and the resulting new customers.

“Knowing that part of their compensation is based on that call data makes the staff more active,” said Shaw. “They make more calls, they make more money and we get more business.” Shaw has also established recurring, customized reports for his chief financial officer and chief executive officer.

“The Wave platform truly serves our business,” said Shaw. “The mobility tools have delivered major functionality to our staff. It is easy to configure and use, the call quality is clear and consistent, and the network is highly reliable. Vertical has been a great resource for our company. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”