Transforming internal and external communications

High Hardware Costs Drive Move to a Virtual PBX

Dougherty initially considered purchasing and installing an on-premises PBX system to unify Barge Waggoner on one telephony platform, but the required capital expenditure gave him pause. So did the lack of scalability.

“After evaluating the cost of the hardware-based PBX system, I wanted to reduce our CAPEX and move toward a predictable monthly expense for phone service,” he says. “I also realized that moving to a hosted solution would allow us to buy only what we needed, without having to invest in excess hardware.”

‘Mad Money’ and Gartner Coverage Put 8x8’s Virtual PBX on the Short List

Dougherty and team investigated multiple solutions from leading vendors, including Cisco, AT&T and Microsoft, before concluding that most were too expensive, too complicated (one required six virtual servers), or not reliable enough for Barge Waggoner. While reviewing a Gartner Magic Quadrant report on unified communications, Dougherty saw 8x8 named as a market leader—and realized he had heard of the company before.

“About a year earlier I had heard Jim Cramer interview 8x8’s CEO on his Mad Money show,” recalled Dougherty. “It struck me at the time that 8x8 was a company to keep an eye on. Then, when I saw them again in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, I knew we needed to check out their solution.”

Pilot so Successful that Barge Waggoner Ditches Old Contracts Early for New Virtual PBX

After contacting the 8x8 enterprise team, Dougherty and his team agreed to pilot 8x8 unified communications at one Barge Waggoner office. Initially there were some technical challenges, but 8x8 helped Barge Waggoner strengthen its network to reduce latency. Users were so happy to have modern business phone service that they didn’t mind the occasional glitches.

“There was a lot of love for all the new phone features and we decided to move forward with 8x8,” said Dougherty. “Our original plan was to implement 8x8 only in the Barge Waggoner offices where it was needed most, but momentum started to build, and we ended up canceling some phone service contracts early and replacing PBX hardware that wasn’t even fully depreciated so we could standardize the whole company on 8x8 unified communications.”

To ensure a smooth rollout across the distributed organization, Dougherty and his team introduced 8x8 to a different office every three to four weeks. Within a year, all 12 Barge Waggoner offices were fully deployed.

8x8 Unified Communications Enhance Collaboration Inside and Out

Now that the firm has standardized on 8x8 unified communications across all 12 locations, its talented specialists can easily collaborate with colleagues in other offices, regardless of geographic location. Standard 8x8 virtual PBX features such as four-digit dialing between offices and a companywide directory on every desktop allow employees to quickly reach colleagues anywhere in the firm. Conference bridges, also included as part of the standard unified communications service, have eliminated additional charges for third-party conferencing services.

The firm’s external communications have been dramatically enhanced as well. According to Dougherty, 8x8 has “transformed how we interact with clients and other stakeholders.” Employees can now receive and place business calls on their smartphones using the 8x8 mobile app, which makes it appear as if they are using their office phones. Email notification of voicemail lets employees know when they have voice messages—and caller ID indicates who left the message, greatly enhancing responsiveness to clients.

One Virtual PBX, Many Possibilities

The flexibility of the 8x8 virtual PBX easily enables customized configurations for all the firm’s locations. For example, some offices allow direct inward dial (DID) calls to go straight to the call recipient; others set up ring groups and have a receptionist answer calls before transferring them to the recipient.

“8x8 allows us to set up our phone system to meet the needs of each office and the individuals who work there,” said Dougherty. “Every time we rolled out 8x8 to a new location, an 8x8 sales engineer would come on site to train users and answer our questions. All we had to say is ‘we want the system to do this,’ and he helped us find the answer.”