Testimonial – Shaw Centre
Customer Testimonial
Business Challenge & Overview
The Shaw Centre is an awarding winning, world class convention centre facility located in heart of downtown Ottawa, Canada’s Capital. The Centre features 192,000 sq ft of event space located over four levels and hosts over 450 events in any given year. In 2021, Shaw Centre was awarded the 2020 International Association of Conference Centres (AIPC) APEX award for “World’s Best Convention Centre”. The award is granted every two years in recognition of the highest rating on client surveys received by a convention centre.
As Canada’s Meeting Place. The Shaw Centre provides the stage where Canadians and guests from around the world come together in Ottawa, Canada’s Capital, to learn and grow by sharing their knowledge, views and practices.
The Shaw Centre’s aging telephone system was exceeding their budget and they needed new features to match the world class facility they were representing to the public. The existing solution was composed of several virtual and physical servers and gateways. The costs associated with the system for new phones and licensing was very high. Support was both difficult to get and costly, and the system was difficult to administer.
Solution
- E-MetroTel Galaxy Expand modular solution replaced the existing multiple server PBX.
- E-MetroTel hybrid capability allowed us to retain several of our existing phones and add new E-MetroTel Infinity IP phones on the same system.
- E-MetroTel InfinityOne mobile client was implemented for remote calling and allowing receptionists and others to work effectively from home as well as from their mobile phones.
- Implemented features such as managing voicemail from the E-MetroTel web-based User Portal, allowing people to control their own call handling – call forwarding, twinning executive & assistant phones and follow me for mobility. Changes to call handling could be completed in less than 30 sec vs 5-10 min often requiring the administrator with the previous system.
Benefits
- Green Migration from E-MetroTel enabled re-use of multiple existing phones resulting in a significant cost savings of roughly $10,000 as well as keeping them out of the landfill.
- Network simplification by replacing multiple servers with a single modular Galaxy Expand server.
- Green Migration also allowed us to migrate at our own pace rather than a flash cutover.
- Support from Key2 Communications and E-MetroTel is excellent and also provided a cost saving of about $3,000 per year.
Customer Statement
Key2 Communications has been our service provider for over 10 years. They introduced the E-MetroTel solution to us believing it was the best solution for the Shaw Centre. According to Daniel Rozen, IT Manager, staff productivity tools, ease of use for system administration and a favourable price for phones and software licensing were some of the main reasons Shaw Centre chose the E-MetroTel solution. “The solution exceeded our requirements and Key2 Communications did an exceptional job of implementation. The E-MetroTel solution is a great solution and very comparable to much more expensive systems out there. The interface is simple and very intuitive considering the features that are available through the system and the cost savings were substantial. We would definitely recommend the E-MetroTel solution to others looking for a comprehensive, high value PBX solution.”
