BACKGROUND
Paralon Technologies Inc. is a leading provider of secure remote access and mobile computing products to commercial and government users worldwide. Established in June 1992, Paralon is a privately held corporation headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Paralon has long used information technology to keep its small but growing staff functioning at peak efficiency.

THE CHALLENGE
“Paralon is a lean-and-mean company,” says Robert H. Manougian, Vice President of Operations. “We each do whatever it takes to get the job done. As part of this philosophy, we are always looking for assistance from technology. If we can use technology to streamline any process and avoid bringing on more staff we will do it.”

The latest process Paralon has streamlined is communication. “As a high-tech company, communication — both internal and external — is the key to our success,” says Manougian. “We must do everything we can to optimize the time our people spend communicating with the customer and with each other. We’ve always faced the challenge of receiving and routing all types of messages including voice, fax, and email.”

In its early years, Paralon leased a small PBX system to handle its telephone messaging needs. However, this system did little more than put telephones at every desk. According to Manougian, with the PBX, “everyone in the company was required to answer the phone. Our engineers, management, and other people were fielding requests outside of their areas of expertise. We wasted customers’ time tracking down the appropriate contact and took much of our key staff away from their duties.”

Realizing that newer, more powerful technologies could help Paralon improve both operating efficiency and customer service, Manougian began searching the market for a state-of-the-art messaging solution.

THE SOLUTION
After looking at several proprietary, stand-alone voicemail systems, Manougian decided that Paralon needed a true computer telephony integration (CTI) solution, providing full connectivity between its computer network and telephone system.

“I wanted something with much more versatility than the proprietary systems offered,” says Manougian. “I also wanted a solution that maximized the advantages of our Microsoft® Windows network and Microsoft Exchange® email. Integrating messaging capabilities with Windows and Exchange was our ultimate goal.”

After evaluating a wide variety of computer telephony solutions, Paralon selected CallXpress® from AVST Inc. Explaining the decision, Manougian says “CallXpress offers the best technology, provides all the functionality we require, and above all integrates seamlessly with Windows and Exchange.” Manougian also knew that CallXpress would grow with Paralon, as it is scalable, flexible, and based on the equally scalable and flexible Microsoft BackOffice® platform.

A sophisticated yet easy-to-use system, CallXpress provides users a universal interface for their voice, fax, and email messages. Together with the AVST Automated Attendant, a call processing system that answers and routes calls automatically, CallXpress offers a complete set of messaging, management, and routing capabilities, providing companies such as Paralon an end-to-end, Windows based telephony solution.

CallXpress also takes full advantage of the robust system administration and diagnostic capabilities of the Microsoft Windows operating system, empowering organizations to manage the system with ease in a seamless operating environment. Plus, CallXpress supports all major communication protocols, for superior LAN connectivity.

RESULTS
Manougian has been nothing short of delighted with CallXpress. “The impact of CallXpress on our business has been tremendous,” he reports. “First and foremost, incoming calls never fall through the cracks. Now, whenever someone calls in, CallXpress routes the call directly to the appropriate party. We receive all of our messages and are much more responsive. The days of messages on little pink pieces of paper are long gone.”

“The benefits we’ve experienced because of CallXpress are very real,” says Manougian. “We are much more responsive with all our communications, both external and internal. And we now allow our specialized personnel to focus on their jobs. Just the fact that our engineers and executives are no longer required to be telephone operators has had an incredible impact on work efficiency.”

“CallXpress offers the best technology, provides all the functionality we require, and above all integrates seamlessly with Windows. The impact on our business has been tremendous.” Robert H. Manougian, Vice President of Operations, Paralon Technologies Inc.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (“AVST”) is a leader in the unified communications (“UC”) marketplace uniquely combining the strengths of its world-class messaging platform, CallXpress®, with its speech-enabled call management module, Seneca™, to create a powerful, next-generation unified communications solution. The Company’s products are designed to scale and support organizations of all sizes. For more information please contact us at: www.avst.com or +1.949.699.2300.