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Explosive growth in the lending industry has come as a boon to Provident Funding Associates LP in recent years. But for the companys small systems group, led by Jason Lukitsch, the boon brought a logistical nightmare: how to administer disparate telephone systems at a growing number of small branch offices coast to coast.
Many of Providents branches employ only three to 10 workers—underwriters, for the most part, with no expertise in managing a network. Provident, in Burlingame, Calif., was forced to contract with third parties to maintain the systems, and a task as basic as adding a phone meant paying an extra fee.
“We were never really organized enough to have a centralized phone system,” Lukitsch said.
Lukitsch wanted a system that his own team could manage and let them gain control over telecommunications usage and costs. The staff evaluated VOIP (voice over IP) systems from all the major manufacturers, including Cisco Systems Inc., Nortel Networks Ltd., Siemens AG and Avaya Inc. The first thing they noticed, Lukitsch said, was that the systems were priced beyond the point at which the company could realize a timely return on investment.
“When we looked at the big players in this, we were taken aback by the price,” Lukitsch said.
In addition, the Provident IT team discovered complexity in the VOIP systems that appeared more overwhelming than the jumbled legacy network the company already had in place. Several “solutions” came with lists of as many as 200 separate required line items, Lukitsch said.
“We never knew what any of the stuff was,” Lukitsch said, adding that it wasnt always clear whether an item was software or hardware.
For many organizations, migrating to IP networking means adding numerous pieces of equipment. VOIP systems can include media servers, gateways, voice mail servers, switches, routers and firewalls, all of which can be housed in separate boxes. Recently, some of the large vendors have begun offering new managed services to help ensure that all the disparate equipment works together once deployed.
Having to pay a vendor to manage a VOIP system after investing in the equipment was not part of the simplified- networking vision that Provident had in mind, Lukitsch said. And because the company likes to develop its own software applications, he sought a phone system that would integrate easily with programs built in-house.
“We wanted to support this in-house, but it seemed we would need someone with specific expertise for the specific vendor,” Lukitsch said. “I went back to the vendors and asked why all the solutions are proprietary.”
Many solutions are proprietary, it turns out, simply because they can be. Industry giants with a long-standing customer base around the world can leverage embedded legacy systems. What Provident needed was a VOIP system based on open standards. It found one at Zultys Technologies, in Sunnyvale, Calif.
“Zultys is a smaller company. Theyre willing to work with us,” Lukitsch said. “Their whole solution just screams simplicity.”
The solution
Provident was presented with no more than seven components for the VOIP system it reviewed from Zultys. At company headquarters in Burlingame, Lukitsch decided to install the Zultys MX250, which incorporates the functions of a PBX, voice mail server, voice gateway and Internet gateway in one box. Scaling to 250 users, it was the right-size component for Provident to begin its migration to VOIP. At the branch offices, he deployed the Zultys MX25, which can be used as a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) gateway or a remote module for the MX250, handling as many as 30 simultaneous voice channels.
Touting its adherence to standards as one of its best assets, Zultys designed its equipment to work with any SIP-based handset even though it sells its own phones. Provident tested phones from several vendors but chose the Zultys ZIP 4×4. Some competing phones were difficult to use, even with simple tasks such as call transferring, Lukitsch said. Also, the Zultys handset includes several features the lending company needed, such as a speakerphone, a headset jack, encryption and a message waiting light.
Next Page: Simplicity of system makes it easy to roll out.
Simplicity of system makes
it easy to roll out”>
The simplicity of the Zultys system has been a boon to Providents IT team and the entire work force alike, Lukitsch said. He said he sent two telephone network experts and one IT expert for training with Zultys, and they mastered the system easily. The relatively low cost of deployment means that Provident can roll out systems at a faster pace.
“They had always been very cautious about opening new branches,” Lukitsch said. “Now we can get a branch [network] up and running with [$2,000].”
Whats more, underwriters and other employees have discovered some of the more transparent benefits of VOIP.
“We have … employees who definitely do not like change. They are overjoyed because they can see their calls on their computers,” Lukitsch said.
Apart from simplifying network management and giving Provident more control over its communications, the Zultys system is saving the lender money. VOIP eliminates the cost of internal calling, and that alone should save the company between $200,000 and $300,000 a year, Lukitsch said. And he said he anticipates Provident will save as much as $500,000 annually by eliminating six of its nine PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces), used for dedicated access lines.
Provident is already taking advantage of the open standards at the foundation of Zultys technology by incorporating a new IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system into the network. Borrowers will be able to phone the lending company and verbally enter their account number into the system to obtain a balance. Zultys announced the IVR feature as a regular component of its technology in May of this year, said Iain Milnes, president of Zultys.
The vendor is finding growing demand for its standards-based products overseas, although the United States remains its largest market, Milnes said. Demand for handsets alone spurred the company to find new manufacturing partners, and it has just unveiled a midpriced phone, the ZIP 2×2, which has two Ethernet circuits and two call appearances.
“When we started the company, I said initially were not going to be in the phone business,” Milnes said. “Were in the phone business to stay.”
Case file
- Customer Provident Funding Associates
- Location Burlingame, Calif.
- Organizational snapshot Explosive growth brought a logistical nightmare for the companys systems group; many of Providents branches employ 10 or fewer workers—underwriters, for the most part, with no expertise in managing a network; Provident was forced to contract with third parties to maintain the systems, and a task as basic as adding a phone meant paying an extra fee
- Business need To administer disparate telephone systems at a growing number of small branch offices coast to coast by deploying an affordable system that one team could centrally manage, thereby gaining control over telecom usage and costs
- Recommended solution Zultys Technologies MX250, installed at headquarters, incorporates the functions of a PBX, voice mail server, voice gateway and Internet gateway in one box; Zultys MX25, installed at branches, can be used as a SIP gateway or a remote module for the MX250, handling as many as 30 simultaneous voice channels; Zultys ZIP 4×4 phones
- Lessons learned Many proprietary VOIP systems are not only costly but also complicated, requiring ongoing management help from the vendor; the relatively low cost of deploying a standards-based system meant that Provident could roll out systems at a faster pace; besides simplifying network management and giving Provident more control over its communications, the Zultys system is saving the lender money by eliminating the cost of internal calling and by eliminating unused PRIs, which were used for dedicated access lines