Anderson Associates Architects
Architectural firm deploys Asterisk to enhance productivity and reap rewards of feature-rich telephony application
Building a Better Communication System
Back in the day, comedian Lily Tomlin gave us the snorting phone operator, Ernestine, but, in the real business world, relying on switchboard operators to answer telephone calls is no laughing matter. Calls can go unanswered and messages can get lost; all in this day and age when people expect high-functioning communication. Without a PBX system in place, Illinois-based Anderson Associates Architects relied on their staff to answer and route calls to the firm's associates – or jot down messages when architects were out of the office. Acquiring East Bay Design Group last year, a leading design firm specializing in residential renovations, and with plans on moving to a two-story office building later in the year, the company knew they needed a better solution to meet their changing telephony needs.
Replacing their no-frills telephone system with an open source PBX from Asterisk delivered enhanced functionality such as auto-attendant answering and voice mail capabilities – alleviating the need for an individual to answer every call that came into the firm. Plus, the Linux-based open source solution enabled modification through scripting that allowed both companies to retain their separate identities while sharing one phone system. With a heavy following and a well-built reputation, it was important that East Bay Design Group be able to keep their own identity when dealing with potential customers.
Better Run - The Phone Is Ringing
Located in Tinley Park, Illinois, Anderson Associate Architects is a leader in single-family and multiple-family stock home plans. With over 4,000 stock plans to choose from, Anderson's mission is to provide the best residential home plans for the best price. In addition to serving individual homebuyers, a large portion of Anderson's customer base is regionally located small to medium size contractors that do not have architects on staff.
Acquiring East Bay Design Group in the summer of 2005 meant the company's size would triple to nine employees. Using a rudimentary telephone system with a light-up button for each of the firm's four lines, a staff member needed to answer calls as they came in and either physically track down the appropriate architect or take a paper-based message.
"Some of the challenges with the old phone system were that our customers could not leave a voice mail message and, if an architect was not at their desk, someone had to manually take down a message," said John Schoenherr, director of Operations for Anderson Associate Architects. "We had lots of productivity issues and the process was very labor intensive. With no voicemail and lacking the ability to transfer calls to other people, we really were in the dark ages in terms of our telephone system."
Along with the consolidation of the two companies, plans were in the works to move to a new office space in Frankfort, Illinois, where the two companies would share a two-story building and the same phone system. This was yet another driver for choosing a new telephone system. Without the ability to transfer calls, assistants would need to run up and down several sets of stairs trying to locate an architect. During busy times, calls went unanswered or were abandoned due to lack of technology. Builders wanting information often were on site, away from their offices, and needed a more efficient means of communicating with architects.
"Builders often go on-site and, while away from their offices, need to have a way of obtaining information from the architects back in the office more efficiently. We wanted to ensure they could reach us as soon as possible or at least have a way to leave us a message without it getting lost" said Schoenherr. "With the upcoming consolidation with East Bay Design Group and Anderson Associate Architects, we knew we needed better technology since the old phone system could not provide us with those services or guarantees. We went from the dark ages of phone systems to the next generation of telephony."
A Builder's Dream: Open Source Solution Modified to Enable Unique Auto-Attendant Answer
Wanting to take advantage of VoIP technology and with help from SIPBox, an industry leader in developing customized, cost-effective VoIP solutions, the company began implementation of Asterisk in the winter of 2005. Created by Digium, Asterisk is a complete PBX software solution. It runs on Linux, BSD and MacOSX and provides all of the features you would expect from a PBX – and more. Asterisk does voice over IP (VoIP) in many protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware. Providing voicemail services with directory, call conferencing, interactive voice response (IVR) and call queuing, Asterisk also has support for three-way calling caller ID services, ADSI, SIP and H.323, as both client and gateway.
"Because Asterisk is a Linux-based system, we were able to write scripts for it in order to route calls for East Bay Design Group to a separate auto answer system and maintain the transparency that was important to us," said Schoenherr. "In addition to auto-answer, we gained other efficiencies and functionalities such as providing everyone with their own phone extension and being able to retrieve voicemail messages from Microsoft Outlook."
Planning Ahead: IP-based Solution Transports from One Location to Another with No Additional Install Costs
With the companies' consolidation and the telephone system upgrade happening before- and not after- the move, Anderson Associate Architects needed a system that would be portable in addition to offering feature-rich functionality. Asterisk is an IP-based system that runs through the computer network relieving the need for any additional cabling. Without being hard-wired, the system transports easily with no additional implementation or installation costs.
Schoenherr notes that the system is meeting their business needs by routing calls efficiently and helping present a professional face to the public. Now, conference calls among team members or transferring calls is as easy as pushing a button. Communication to their customers is also much improved and with everyone having their own extension, it is easier for callers to reach their intended party. Without the need for a full-time phone attendant, associates are able to focus on the art of home design instead of running and searching for architects when fielding incoming calls.
"Our goal from the onset was to consolidate our businesses and share resources with our sister company and the phone system allows us to do that," said Schoenherr. "The system is working flawlessly and we have had no downtime. Moving forward, we plan to take advantage of more of the features and functions that we did not have before. With Asterisk, there isn't anything that cannot be done and as people become more comfortable, we will start looking at more advanced features of the system."
