City of Cullman Connects Its Team & Citizens While Saving $30K Annually With Toshiba’s Strata CIX Telephone Systems

MISSION: Network 16 Departments Over IP
Daniel Hunt, IT director for the City of Cullman, specified a business telephone system that would:

• Effectively handle the city’s 12,000 monthly incoming calls;
• Provide 24/7 reliability, helping ensure that police station lines stay active even if the IP system goes down;
• Connect the City’s four main locations over IP;
• Establish centralized voice mail for all four locations plus four-digit dialing between locations;
• Provide Shared Message Detail Recording (SMDR) for all four locations;
• Allow the ability to grow the system as the city’s needs expand;
• Deliver cost savings wherever possible; and
• Increase efficiency for both internal and external calls, helping enhance communication with Cullman’s citizens.

Hunt turned to Southeastern Telephone of Birmingham, Alabama, an Authorized Toshiba Dealer. Southeastern Telephone has been in business for nearly 30 years. Curtis Cantrell, CEO of Southeastern Telephone, recommended Toshiba’s Strata® CIX™ IP business telephone system for Cullman’s city hall, police department, fire department and Community & Economic Development Association (CEDA) building.

Solution: Strata CIX Exceeds City’s Goals
Installed by Southeastern Telephone, the City of Cullman has a Toshiba business telephone system that consists of:

• A Strata CIX1200 business telephone system at city hall;
• A Strata CIX100 at the police station;
• A Strata CIX40 at the fire department;
• Connection of a fourth location, the CEDA building, via IP using buried cable;
• Networking of all four locations via IP using Toshiba’s Strata Net;
• Strata Media Application Server (MAS) with Network eManager®, Auto Attendant and Centralized Voice Mail;
• Ultimate Call Accounting for call management; and
• More than 120 Toshiba telephones at the four locations.

The system can be expanded or migrated to larger Strata CIX systems as the city grows.

Result #1: Four City Locations Seamlessly Networked
Using Toshiba’s Strata Net, Southeastern Telephone networked the Cullman city hall building’s Strata CIX1200 with the Strata CIX100 at the police station and CIX40 at the fire department. Using Strata Net over IP helps save on networking costs and provides outstanding network reliability. Centralized voice mail also provides city employees with auto attendant, voice messaging and four-digit dialing between locations for improved internal and external communication. Hunt also appreciates the SMDR capabilities from Ultimate Call Accounting, which allows for call accounting for all locations and departments, including the ability to track outgoing long distance calls to be billed to specific departments.

Result #2: Remote Management Saves Time and Money
Hunt uses Toshiba’s Network eManager to administer the telecommunications at all four locations, all from his laptop computer. Using the Internet, he can check on the system status, change configurations, check capacities for any alerts and more. He can also easily perform moves, adds and changes on the fly, saving the time and cost of a service call. Network eManager’s simple ‘point and click’ Web-based interface makes changes fast and easy. Hunt said, “Toshiba’s Network eManager lets me be there 24/7 without having to physically be on premises.”

Result #3: Improved Internal and External Communication
With the Toshiba business telephone system, citizens calling the City can now more quickly reach the right people, saving their time and that of employees. An automated attendant with voice menus for the various departments helps direct calls directly to the right contacts. This helps reduce the need for city employees to direct calls, and callers are routed to the right person more quickly. The city can also have incoming calls ring at multiple locations so that more citizens reach the right departments without being routed to voice mail. This helps improve community communications. Internal communication has also improved with the addition of four-digit dialing between the locations.

Bottom Line: Reduced Costs and Improved Efficiencies
The new Toshiba Strata CIX telephone systems have helped the City of Cullman meet its communications objectives, including reducing overall system costs. City of Cullman’s savings includes:

• More than $1,700 per month on maintenance costs;
• The security of knowing equipment is covered by the industry’s only manufacturer’s seven-year extended warranty;
• Reduction in long distance costs and increased ability to do call accounting to bill long distance to specific departments;
• Elimination of unused phone services and circuits and consolidation of services for extra cost savings; and
• A total savings of more than $30,000 a year.

Overall, these cost savings will help pay for the four Strata CIX business telephone systems with a fast return on investment. “Thanks to Toshiba and Southeastern Telephone, we are able to significantly improve our telecommunications capabilities while saving more than $30,000 a year in telecom costs,” said Hunt.

For an Authorized Toshiba Dealer, visit: www.telecom.toshiba.com