Orion Logistics
So what if you aren't the biggest operation out there?
You should still be able to present a professional image at an affordable cost. That's what Orion Logistics, a third party logistics service provider, believed. After a quick Google search uncovered Fonality, Orion was en route to replacing its failing phone system with PBXtra. Low cost and feature rich, PBXtra has improved customer service and employee efficiency all while making the company look great to the outside world.
Making a Move; Orion Logistics Takes PBXtra Along with Great Results
Orion Logistics, Inc. is a third party logistics service provider offering services to companies that want to outsource the physical distribution of manufactured products. When the company began planning to move its operation to a new 100,000 square foot warehouse, management was debating whether to invest in moving and reprogramming their existing phone system, which didn't provide the advanced features they needed, or go shopping for a new phone system.
Moving on Up for Less than $10K?
At the time, Orion, which has 15 employees, had regular phone lines and an AT&T Partner phone system that was purchased in the late 1990s. After looking at the cost of moving its existing system and what features they would ideally like to have in a phone system, Orion decided to look for a new system. "We wanted our phones to be automatically answered, have good voicemail, transfer calls to employees in the warehouse and conference calls together," said Jim White, IT manager at Orion. "We also wanted to purchase and install our new phone system, without hiring a phone guy or relying on other expensive outside consultants."
"I found out about Fonality through searching on Google," said White. "The PBXtra system was very attractively priced and had all the features we wanted and more. We did not want to make a five figure investment in our new phone system. For not much more than moving our broken phone system, we could implement our new advanced PBXtra system. Plus, we didn't want to have to dedicate staff to the ongoing function of our phone system and with PBXtra we wouldn't have to." Orion liked the fact that Fonality provides automatic software updates and can administer its server remotely. The one time, in 14 months, that Orion needed help, Fonality support was able to look at its server remotely, see immediately what was going on and fix the problem.
Improving Employee Productivity and Customer Service
Since Orion is a warehouse operation, employees are often out in the warehouse rather than at their desks. With Fonality, employees can easily have their cell phones configured as extensions, which makes it possible to transfer calls to them while out on the warehouse floor. This feature has made a huge difference for Orion. Employees now answer calls that they weren't able to before, which saves time, increases productivity and allows Orion to provide better service.
"When I went through the steps to start configuring people's cell phones as PBXtra extensions, we all thought it was incredible," said White. "With this feature, we don't have to keep customers waiting, there is no need to install phones all over the place, and people can keep working while they take calls from customers, dispatchers, suppliers, etc. It is a big time saver!"
White is impressed with Fonality's ability to forward voicemail to email, which allows employees to listen to voicemail from their computer either remotely or at their desks. He also likes the ability to administer the phones from a web browser, which "saves time and give us better control."
"We aren't a huge operation, but we did want our new phone system to give us a really professional presentation to the world. We need to answer phones and be responsive to customers, suppliers and partners. PBXtra allows us to do that and a lot more."
