The new infrastructure has helped them to reduce costs and allows greater flexibility in their day-to-day operations.

Country: United States Of America
Industry: Energy & Utilities
Solution: Business Telephony, Mobile Campus

SMC Electric Supply (SMC) is a family-owned corporation headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, working from 14 locations across Missouri and Kansas. They deployed WiFi access points in all the locations and a VoIP phone system using a single server to connect all its offices. They can now receive calls from customers even when out of the office.

SMC electric customer reference image 480x480

We now have all our locations running on one single system which has simplified things immensely for us. Our employees can do their job properly and customers are getting a better service.

Charles Givens, Applications Manager, SMC Electric

Challenges

Each of SMC’s locations had its own separate phone system and used different service providers.
Since staff constantly needed to make calls between sites, the system was expensive and inefficient for day-to-day operations and maintenance.
SMC staff found it difficult to consistently answer customers’ incoming calls, especially when out of the office.
They needed phones they could carry around onsite, and a call forwarding system to avoid losing calls from potential revenue-generating customers.
Finally, warehouse staff required wireless phones and portable devices such as bar scanners to streamline processes and increase efficiency, making Wi-Fi a necessity.

Products & Solutions

Products

8 Series IP Touch Phones
OmniAccess Wireless Access Points
OmniSwitch 6450
OmniSwitch 6900
OmniTouch 8118/8128 WLAN Handset
OpenTouch Business Edition

Solutions

Business Telephony
Converged Campus Network
Mobility

Benefits

All locations now have WiFi access points working autonomously, as well as a VoIP phone system that allows calls to run through a single server.
Two WLAN switches manage voice and data WiFi traffic; the system is connected to portable devices in the warehouses (e.g. handheld barcode scanners).
Disaster recovery mode allows applications to keep running if there is a crisis, helping to avoid backlog and communication problems.
All communications costs, including long-distance calls, have been eliminated as all calls are now go over IP.
Customer drop-off rate is significantly lower now that all calls are answered, helping to generate more revenue.
SMC employees can now connect to WiFi, which allows greater flexibility to run meetings, call customers, and invite guests from any location.
A robust system that delivers clear call quality enables SMC to provide a better service to its customers.

Documents

Short case study

SMC Electric Supply's Success Story

This case study describes how SMC Electric Supply improved its customer service by connecting all 14 locations to a single data server and using VoIP telephony.

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SMC Electric Supply