NACR Helps Leading Steelmaker Use Avaya IP Telephony to Establish a Just-in-Time Market Advantage
o Avaya's North American 'BusinessPartner of the Year for Services' Teams with Avaya Global Services to Keep Charter Steel's Communications Network Finely-tuned
EAGAN, Minn., March 22 -- NACR knows that when a company has a lot riding on the line, communications can make the difference between success and failure.
That's certainly true for Charter Steel, one of the nation's leading steelmakers, and an NACR customer. Charter often has to turn production schedules on a dime to meet the needs of the "Big Three" automakers -- sometimes receiving just two hours notice before a delivery is due. If a call fails to reach the company's sales staff, orders are missed, revenues are lost and Charter Steel's reputation as a just-in-time vendor is damaged.
To serve its critical communications needs, Charter uses an IP telephony solution from Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of business communications applications, software and services. The company's 1,000 employees are served by an IP Telephony network linking 11 locations powered by Avaya's industry-leading Communication Manager IP telephony software running on Avaya servers and gateways.
NACR plays a critical role keeping Charter's network finely tuned -- teaming with Avaya Global Services to augment its own capabilities. NACR serves as Charter's single-point of contact to coordinate a seamless continuum of services delivered both by Avaya Global Services and NACR personnel certified in Avaya technology.
"There are just two of us on the Charter Steel telecommunications team who are responsible for the communications companywide," said Peter Schwei, telecommunications manager, Charter Steel. "If we didn't have a strong services partner, we couldn't provide the level of service to our company that we do."
Based on growth in services and success in partnering with Avaya to deliver superior services to clients like Charter Steel, NACR was named Avaya Services BusinessPartner of the Year.
Charter Steel's network is monitored remotely around-the-clock using patented Avaya EXPERT SystemsSM Diagnostics tools. NACR software specialists manage Charter's software licenses and upgrades, and revamped call routing tables to save the company nearly $2,000 per month in toll charges using across-the-board "least call routing." They've installed a new Avaya Unified Communications Center Speech Access Server so Charter's road warriors can use speech commands to dial into the company network, manage messages, make and receive calls and access critical business information. They've also upgraded field locations to Avaya Modular Messaging so workers can access and manage both their voice and email messages from a single mailbox via computer or phone. NACR even helped Schwei locate qualified service techs outside of the U.S. to support the company's international locations.
As a next step, NACR is coordinating a quality assessment review of Charter Steel's Avaya network to make certain all components are working as designed and to see where changes can be made to improve performance.
"NACR is very knowledgeable, exhibits great follow-through and works with us as a seamless extension of our business," Schwei said. "They've proven themselves and shown they are a true, value-added partner."
About Avaya
Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®, use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centers and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large. For more information visit the Avaya Web site, www.avaya.com
About NACR
NACR is a certified Avaya Platinum BusinessPartner, Three-Star Service Provider and six-time Avaya BusinessPartner of the Year. Headquartered in Eagan, Minn., NACR was launched in 1993 with only five employees. Today, the company has approximately 400 employees and 55 locations across the country dedicated to designing, implementing and servicing the Avaya product line. For more information about NACR, call 1-888-321-NACR (6227) or visit us online at nacr.com
Source: Avaya
CONTACT:
Media Relations:
Deb Kline,
Avaya,
+1-908-953-6179,
klined@avaya.com
Web site: www.avaya.com/
