Adelaide reseller deploys ShoreTel UC across remote Australia

Adelaide-based Simply Ask Simon has deployed a ShoreTel UC solution to transport and freight company McArdle Freight.

McArdle Freight has four depots in regional centres in South Australia and Northern Territory, and operates across remote parts of the country.

The transport company had relied on a Panasonic digital PABX system to maintain the communication through its five sites and mobile phones to get through to drivers. With ShoreTel Hosted Voice (SHV) solution, McArdle Freight now has a single telephony system connecting sites and mobile workers.

"The main benefit for us is the guaranteed performance of our data connection, particularly the fast upload speed. That means we can operate our accounting system as a cloud-based application, and look to move more of our applications over to the cloud. That will give our staff easier and more flexible access to the systems that run our business," said Tamara McArdle, McArdle Freight office manager.

SHV apps will be installed on employees' mobile devices so they have the same UC functionality provided by a ShoreTel office handset. McArdle Freight employees were given an allowance to purchase these mobile devices to save them from carrying two devices.

"We operate over an incredibly large area from Darwin and Adelaide – over 3000km north to south. We have a whole fleet of drivers we need to contact all the time. With ShoreTel Hosted Voice we will have transparency. We will be able to see each other, and use the best channel available at the time to reach someone," said McArdle.

ShoreTel reseller Simply Ask Simon, which was one of the first partners to sign up for SHV, has already closed three SHV customers and is close to attaining the silver level of partnership with ShoreTel.

Simon Buckingham, managing director of the Adelaide-based IT consultancy, said: "An increasing number of our customers are adopting flexible working practices, and the ShoreTel Hosted Voice solution supports that environment by extending the full UC feature set to remote, mobile and home-based workers. It also has the built-in redundancy and business continuity capabilities that were previously only available from higher-end UCaaS solutions."

The monthly price structure of SHV suits partners and clients "perfectly", according to Buckingham.

According to McArdle, the industry is very competitive and the transport company can't afford to have missed calls. SHV also offers McArdle Freight the option to scale up or down the service.

"If a job comes up and no-one answers the call, the customer will just ring the next freight company on their list. With ShoreTel, we won’t miss these opportunities," said McArdle.

According to ShoreTel, the solution, which was launched in April, has been adopted by 50 percent of its partners. The comms vendor, which signed an exclusive agreement with Dicker Data earlier this month to distribute SHV, said that another 60 channel partners have shown interest in reselling the cloud service. ShoreTel also offers the solution via its approved and enabled partners.

ShoreTel vice president for Asia-Pacific Frederic Gillant said: "Our partners are experiencing increased customer demand for cloud-based unified communications solutions. Several partners have now closed their first SHV deals, these contracts were all signed and delivered within two weeks of quoting."