Snapshot. Success story - VoIP Solutions. Rockford IT. The requirement. The solution. The benefits. Conclusion

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1 powered by in partnership with Rockford IT powered by in partnership with Snapshot Telford-based Rockford IT Ltd is a highly experienced and wellestablished IT solutions provider which delivers bespoke IT services to a wide range of clients both locally and nationwide. The requirement Rockford IT s initial requirement was based around a need to update its own internal telecoms systems but resulted in it adding Entanet s VoIP services to its portfolio. The solution Rockford IT required a flexible and reliable telecoms solution that could accommodate its rapid growth and implemented Entanet s SIP trunking solution known as VoIP EasyAccess. It was so pleased with the results that it added Entanet s VoIP services to its service portfolio and now recommends these services to its own customers. The benefits º º Rockford IT implemented a reliable and scalable VoIP solution into its own business providing it with significant cost savings and flexibility. º º Rockford IT s SIP trunk based telephony system provided it with a reliable disaster recovery solution and enabled it to support remote workers. º º Rockford IT now provides Entanet s VoIP services to its own customers enabling them to expand their portfolio and generate profitable revenues. Conclusion We do get asked about VoIP and new technologies in general and I see more of our customers moving in this direction. With BT 21CN, broadband is going to get faster and more reliable and that is going to make it even more viable and attractive.

2 In-depth Taking advantages of new opportunities When Rockford IT Ltd needed to update its own internal telecoms systems it turned to long term communications partner Entanet and was so impressed with the results it added Entanet s VoIP services to its own portfolio. Telford-based Rockford IT is a highly experienced and well-established IT solutions provider which delivers bespoke IT services to a wide range of clients both locally and nationwide. It works with its clients to deliver highly efficient IT solutions that will meet their business requirements and budget. The company provides a wide range of IT services, including Internet connectivity, web hosting, and domain hosting, anti-virus and security services and managed and maintained hosted platforms. It provides round-the-clock support for customers and has two of its own ISO data centres at its prestigious Central Park location near the town centre. Telford-based Rockford IT is a highly experienced and well-established IT solutions provider which delivers bespoke IT services to a wide range of clients both locally and nationwide. Tom Sykes, Managing Director, Rockford IT Ltd The company has a long-standing relationship with Entanet that goes back to Tom Sykes, Managing Director of Rockford IT, explains how the two companies started to work together. We started using Entanet to provide broadband to a few of our customers and that side of our business has grown so that we are now doing quite a lot of broadband connectivity and also providing leased lines and other communications services such as voice over IP. Today, Rockford IT has around 250 customers that are using Entanet services. Communications and connectivity account for around half of Rockford IT s business with the other half coming from managed services. Rockford IT provides IT services for a number of clients, from those with single sites to multiple locations throughout the UK. A winning approach Rockford IT continues to use Entanet as the provider for all its customers connectivity needs for a very simple reason it gets great service and support from the company. We like Entanet and the way we put it to our customers is that they are big enough to provide the scale and range of connectivity services we need, yet they are small enough to offer us excellent levels of personal service and support with the ability to escalate issues quickly when we need to, says Sykes. This attitude and approach is similar to the one that Rockford IT has in its own business, so the two companies work together very well, he notes. With some suppliers you are just another number. We have never felt that with Entanet and it is really quite refreshing to work with a company that treats you in the same way as you would treat your own customers. With some suppliers you are just another number. We have never felt that with Entanet and it is really quite refreshing to work with a company that treats you in the same way as you would treat your own customers.

3 The other aspect of Entanet s services which shines for Sykes is the company s on-line order processing system. That s quite important to us as we need to keep customers up to date and pass on any new information about an order quickly. The Entanet system lets us know straight away if there is a delay or some kind of hold-up, so we can let our customers know. That s the way we like to work so it s very useful. This is especially important with leased line orders, he notes, which are often subject to changes as the order progresses, some of which can affect the eventual price to the client. Clearly, keeping customers well-informed is always going to be important if this happens. Entanet s partner portal is also very useful to Rockford IT, Sykes notes, providing Rockford IT with a useful source of information on all the services, options and promotions that are currently available. A comprehensive solution More recently, Rockford IT has also started to sell Entanet s VoIP services. Having used them itself since the middle of 2007, the company has become very confident in the reliability and quality of the service and left in no doubt about the benefits it delivers. We started to use their SIP trunking solution a couple of years ago and the main reason for that was to provide telephony as part of our disaster recovery plan, so that we did not have to rely on the BT fixed lines. We were also getting up to the maximum number of lines we could have on the BT connection. At the time, Rockford IT had three BT ISDN2 lines which would support six concurrent calls, but the growing business already had 10 staff so it needed more flexibility. It also needed a telephony solution that was flexible, adaptable and 100 per cent reliable. The company provides a 24/7 service so it depends heavily on its telephony system. The obvious options would have been to add more ISDN2 lines or upgrade to ISDN30 but this would have been expensive and added significantly to monthly line rental charges and call costs. Using Entanet s VoIP EasyAccess service however would entail very little set-up cost and deliver lower call charges. Rockford IT decided to put is faith in Entanet and implement VoIP EasyAccess, which it combined with an open source Asterix PBX. It retained the ISDN2 lines for a time, using them in parallel with the VoIP service and, initially, trialling the SIP trunking for outbound calls only. After six months, Sykes and his team were so convinced and confident about the quality and reliability of the service that Rockford IT moved all its voice communications, inbound and outbound, over to the VoIP service. Entanet provided the support and technical assistance needed to enable several

4 of Rockford IT s existing PSTN numbers to be ported over from BT to Entanet and the adoption of several additional 0207 numbers, which provides Rockford IT with a local presence in the London area. The benefits of the VoIP EasyAccess service to Rockford IT have been very significant, says Sykes, not least in terms of cost savings. You don t need to pay any line installation fees and you can run up to 10 calls over a standard broadband line. Calls are cheaper and the quality, if anything, is better when you are connected to another VoIP line. It has also met the needs of the disaster recovery plan, as Sykes explains. As an ISO27001 certified company we have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Having our telephony routed via IP means we can re-route our calls and lines very easily to our disaster recovery site without having to have numbers redirected to expensive stand-by ISDN lines. You don t need to pay any line installation fees and you can run up to 10 calls over a standard broadband line. Calls are cheaper and the quality, if anything, is better when you are connected to another VoIP line. The added flexibility that VoIP offers Rockford IT has also benefited the company. When one of its staff needed to have an operation and was forced to stay away from work for several weeks, she was able to work just as effectively as if she was in the office, making and receiving calls normally on her usual number and at no extra cost to the company. The service also proved useful for similar reasons when some staff caught swine flu during the outbreak of the virus in the earlier part of The VoIP services also proved its worth during the previous winter when snow made it difficult for people to get to work. Since adopting the VoIP EasyAccess services itself, Rockford IT has also provided VoIP to a number of its customers. While it does not try to convince them that they should rip out their current telephony systems and replace them with VoIP straight away, it has adopted a policy of actively encouraging them to look at the technology when the time is right. That usually means when they are upgrading their systems, moving offices or setting up a new location. Profitable new revenue stream Indeed, Rockford IT was able to solve a major problem for one client, Shropshire Dairies, which was setting up a new office on a business park in Shrewsbury but had left it too late to order BT lines. Rockford IT was able to set the company up with Entanet s fully-managed VoIP Enrich service and IP phones within five days. This meant that the eight staff working at the new location could be fully operational from day one in the new location. The firm was able to retain its existing BT telephone numbers as well, which meant that there was no disruption for its 10,000-strong customer base. Later on, Rockford IT also provided VoIP for a satellite office in Worcester that has only two staff. This is covered by the same VoIP set-up, which means that calls between the two locations are entirely free. Due to Entanet s per-second billing, Shropshire Dairies has been able to cut its monthly call charges from around 500 to less than 300 a month. In addition, it no longer has to pay an additional line rental; all calls are instead routed over a dedicated ADSL line.

5 Shropshire Dairies and all Rockford IT s other VoIP customers, are very happy with the services that are being provided, says Sykes. While it is not always possible to absolutely guarantee that services run over standard broadband lines will be available 100 percent of the time, the VoIP services have proven to be very reliable and there have been no complaints from customers. Entanet has also made it very easy to manage the financial side of the process, notes Sykes and provided its partner with a valuable new revenue stream. Entanet s flexible billing options significantly aid our ability to resell VoIP services. Currently Entanet rate our customers calls and bill us at wholesale rates; we then bill our customers, in turn enabling us to provide the service under our own brand. As well as benefiting from a flexible and efficient internal VoIP system which has enabled us to make significant cost savings in both call charges and line rental, we are now also generating additional income by reselling similar services to our customers. Entanet s flexible billing options significantly aid our ability to resell VoIP services. Sykes is certain that Rockford IT s VoIP business will grow swiftly as faster broadband services become available. We do get asked about VoIP and new technologies in general and I see more of our customers moving in this direction. With BT 21CN, broadband is going to get faster and more reliable and that is going to make it even more viable and attractive. The cost of calls is going to come down and if you also make it a part of your disaster recovery planning and take advantage of the extra flexibility it gives you to enable home working, you can soon start to see a good return on investment. It has certainly worked for us. See our product literature for more details about our partner services Simply call or us sales@enta.net