Meeting Growing Customer Demands
Posted by Eileen Riordan on Sun, Dec 14, 2008
"Based in Orlando, we provide a wide range of network and communication services for the Hospitality Industry. We have successfully designed for 1,800 room resorts with a million feet of convention space. When you have a network like that - you need a tool like DesignXpert."
Herb Bornack, Jr.
CTO
Orlando Telco
OVERVIEW
In serving Orlando's continuously expanding business sector, Orlando Telephone Company (OTC) was faced with increasingly larger and more complex network requirements. The traditional manual design method could not handle these types of opportunities or provide the level of detail that these customers required. OTC implemented DesignXpert from Netformx to provide fully validated designs with detailed accessible proposal.
CHALLENGES
- Multi-Step Process
- Manual BOM
- Lack of Sufficient Design Detail
- Limited Online Configuration
BUSINESS RESULTS
- Time Savings - 20% to 30% reduction in design time
- Improved Design Accuracy
- Comprehensive High-Quality Deliverables
- Closing Deals Fast
- More and Larger Customer Wins
- Customer Design Confidence
Larger Customers Demand Better Designs
Orlando Telephone Company (OTC) is a leading Florida provider of advanced communications solutions for the booming Orlando area hospitality industry. Their solutions include voice, high speed Internet access, CCTV and SMATV/CATV services as well as IP PBX, high-speed Internet access networks and guest room television services. Before adopting DesignXpert, Chief Technology Officer Herb Bornack, Jr. and his team relied upon a multi-step network design process that included creating the graphic presentation in Visio, manual development of the Bill of Material (BoM) on a spreadsheet, and limited validation techniques, such as an online configurator.
Bornack's primary issue with Visio is that it presents a very basic picture and does not provide enough detailed information to satisfy their customers
As the communications needs of the business and leisure traveler have increased, hotels and resorts must provide a wider range of services to remain competitive. "We are dealing with larger and more sophisticated customers," Bornack explained, "who demand much more information about the network given the investment they are making."
Orlando Telephone Company provides network design consulting services that are sold on a stand-alone basis - allowing the customer to choose a different vendor for the implementation phase - or it is bundled into a complete end-to-end OTC solution. Regardless of who completes the implementation, the size and complexity of these projects demand that the level of detail in the design documents be comprehensive enough to assess implementation costs and timetables accurately.
"In order to sell a design as a service I can't just put together a cute diagram in Visio," Bornack said. "That is not good enough if I am selling a design. I need to sell a design, BOM, and proof of concept, which means I need to validate my IP addressing and all the connections. In order to do that, I needed a more elaborate tool than Visio."
Bornack's other problem with Visio is that it does not validate designs. Bornack often turned to an online configurator, however, it only validated one product line, and each item was validated separately, not as a network.
Better Results in Less Time
The company deployed DesignXpert to develop and validate all network designs from OTC, on the enterprise side and the service provider side. Because DesignXpert resides on their laptops, Bornack and his team can bring the design to a customer meeting, walk the customer through the design, explain why each item is needed, make changes quickly at the customer site, and close the deal fast.
Bornack appreciates the powerful and practical capabilities of DesignXpert including integration with multiple online configuration tools and timely updates for multiple product lines and prices.
Netformx DesignXpert delivers the following business results for Orlando Telephone Company:
Time Savings: "With DesignXpert, I get a more thorough result in less time," Bornack confirms, pointing out that time is saved with the automation of each step in the process into a seamless streamlined workflow. "Instead of having to spec each product individually and create a spreadsheet for the cost of that product and then combine them into a general spreadsheet, DesignXpert does all that work for me. And I can validate my entire design with one click of my mouse.[e1] ."
"DesignXpert takes about 20% to 30% off my design time, depending on the size of the network," he added.
Improved Design Accuracy: DesignXpert automates processes, minimizing human error, improving design accuracy and validating the entire design.
"If I have to change an interface and I don't properly change the other side of the link, it is going to fail validation," Bornack says, explaining that DesignXpert eliminates this problem by guiding him to make the right changes and notifying him if anything is incorrect. "If I'm busy, DesignXpert keeps me from making mistakes."
Comprehensive High-Quality Deliverables: "DesignXpert puts together a complete and detailed package for me, and ties everything up, including service provider and enterprise designs, in a professional-looking integrated presentation," Bornack said. "I can walk the customer through the design step by step."
In addition, the detailed documents make it much easier for the technician to follow, making the installation process more efficient.
Closing Deals Fast: DesignXpert enables the OTC team to make rapid design changes, even while sitting in a customer's conference room, letting the customer see the latest version right away, minimizing delay, and enabling the team to close deals fast.
"It is not just that I can work faster, it also impresses the customer and helps secure a customer win," Bornack said.
More and Larger Customer Wins: "DesignXpert enables us to cover a larger number of customers and larger sized opportunities than we would normally be able to do," Bornack explained. "A larger size customer requires a better presentation. In DesignXpert, designs can be illustrated faster, cleaner and more thoroughly. That's a big plus."
"DesignXpert comes in very handy especially when working with our larger customers," he continued. "Based in Orlando, we provide a wide range of network and communication services for the Hospitality Industry. We have successfully designed for 1,800 room resorts with a million feet of convention space. When you have a network like that - you need a tool like DesignXpert."
Customer Design Confidence: By providing thorough and well-detailed designs, DesignXpert allows OTC to boost customer confidence in designs and build a level of trust with the customer.
The Bottom Line: Competitive Edge
Due to the vast portfolio of services offered by OTC, they face competition from many fronts including service providers, PBX providers, cabling companies, CPE vendors, and systems integrators. DesignXpert puts Orlando Telephone Company ahead of all their competitors because it empowers them to deliver a complete, detailed design in an easily accessible presentation, delivered to the customer in their choice of format.
"On large networks, I have seen my competitors provide hand-written designs or rudimentary designs with generic shapes and no where near a proof of concept," Bornack concluded. "DesignXpert gives us a competitive edge."
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