Case Study: Cutting Long Distance Costs and System Maintenance with Hosted VoIP

Seattle-based Pace International develops and markets products used to help protect and preserve fruit and vegetable quality post-harvest, when crops are making their ways to markets around the world. With corporate headquarters in Seattle, the company needed a more cost-effective and efficient way to maintain contact with its 100 employees, spread across two plants in Washington and California, as well as 11 warehouses around the U.S., and eight international offices.

 

Pace wanted to streamline the amount of time necessary to maintain their phone system. They wanted to outsource the headaches while maintaining control over administration. With warehouses, plants and international offices spread around the world, Pace’s long distance telephone costs were growing. Reducing these costs was critical. Pace needed a communications system that enhanced communication among employees and their customers.

 

With Speakeasy (News - Alert) Hosted Voice, a simple Web tool makes the administration of password management and moves/adds/changes fast and easy. With an affordable calling plan from Speakeasy, Pace can make unlimited daily conference calls among corporate headquarters, plants, and warehouses. Speakeasy Hosted Voice features offer the level of professionalism Pace sought, like 4-digit dialing among the sites, find me/follow me, auto-attendant for automated call routing, and Outlook integration.

 

Pace saves 10 to 20 percent of IT time a month by not having to maintain the old phone system. Simple tasks like changing extensions and passwords that used to take half an hour, now take less then five minutes. Pace estimates it will save $65,000 a year in long distance costs, conference calling, and phone system connectivity costs, for a total savings of at least 25 percent in communication-related costs.

 

With Speakeasy, Pace is able to improve customer experience. Customers interact seamlessly with the company’s multiple facilities and geographically diverse employees. It adds up to a more efficient and professional experience all around.

 

“Our Speakeasy Hosted Voice system offers tremendous versatility and features over our old phone system and provides centralized visibility for our customers. We’ll save thousands a year in long distance, and since the service is hosted, we’ll eliminate all the headaches associated with maintaining phone system hardware in-house,” said Jon Wells, Director of IT, Pace International. “When you combine all these benefits, switching to VoIP rapidly becomes a no-brainer.”