Westwind Digital Communications

Although I have never personally done a remodel, I know people who have had to endure that grueling chore. I’ve been told that a remodel is slightly better than building a new house, to which I have heard that fun task called a divorce maker. In other words, it’s no fun. The other aspect to both that I have heard is the budget is a starting point, and not what you are going to spend on the project.

Recently we were called out to replace the phone system at a hotel that was going through a remodel and name change. Not that he was very excited to spend the extra money on a new Toshiba phone system near the end of an 18-month remodel; although he was lucky we got the 24-year-old Mitel to work as long as it did. Our techs are the best in Oklahoma, but they stopped making parts for the beast in the late 80’s. There comes to a point when you get past bubble gum, duct tape, and prayers to keep an electronic device working. The boys had gotten there about seven service calls before, and I’m not joking about the size either. Imagine a square version of R2D2 that’s less mobile.

Before the Mitel system finally died, he had asked us to come out and evaluate where to put video surveillance cameras. Morton’s Salt and Murphy were running the gambit on our poor customer and I do not fault him one bit for dropping the camera job to replace the phone system. He was ready to get the whole remodel behind him.

The only problem was part of the remodel was installing nice new Panasonic 42” plasma flat screen televisions. I say it was a problem because those TVs started to walk out of the hotel. Unfortunately, it was not hard. This is a huge hotel and it has multiple exits spread out all over several buildings. Had he decided to go ahead when he first called to have us put in the video surveillance system, he would have actually saved money by not replacing the televisions. I guess this way it makes for a better “lessons learned” story.

I bet you are assuming since we are a telecom I would be writing about pre-paid calling cards, but I’m not. Wait, do they even still sell those? Anyway, being a telephone interconnect we have a certain skill set that non-profits can rarely utilize.

The YWCA in Oklahoma City has a 24-hour crisis center hotline was in need of an overhaul. Josh Beasley, the CDO for the Oklahoma City YWCA, came to Westwind Digital and asked for our opinion as to what needed to be done. Westwind Digital Communications was able to help facilitate some of the change when the owner and president of the Company, Chad NesSmith, donated a Panasonic phone system with voicemail, the man-hours, and all new wiring to get it installed. Chad said, “The YWCA came to us because they had a telecom need, and we were happy to be able to help.”

Another location in Oklahoma City, the McFarland Branch, has been through several months of repair, change, and growth recently. “The McFarland Branch donation was well over $8,000” Chad said, “but the more exciting news was saving the YWCA Gaylord Service complex over $600 a month with the phone system upgrade we provided.” Mr. NesSmith went on to say, “We did not want the YWCA to sacrifice services to the woman and children who needed the hotline or shelter because of reoccurring monthly costs. Switching from 16 separate phone lines to a T1 PRI will save the YWCA over $7,300 a year.”

Americans and especially Oklahomans are known for their generosity. When all you hear in the press is bad news, this warms the heart a little knowing I work for a company that cares.

The last blog got me thinking about how it is we convey what it is we do here at Westwind Digital. That seems to be an easy answer, but when talk about technical issues to non-technical people you can see the fog in their brains begin to form. Mind you we all have certain levels of technical talk we can be comfortable with. If you want to see a haze form in my eyes start talking about HTML code or TCP/IP. Zzzzzzzzzz, What? I’m sorry I just woke up.

My 30-second commercial sums it up best when I tell people we help business owners sleep at night. With Westwind Digital they do not need to worry about whether or not their phones are working. They do not need to worry about customer or employee shrinkage because of their video surveillance, and they do not need to worry if their accounts receivable department is able to send out invoices due to I.T. issues. It is a bit simplistic, but it lets the listener know about our three areas of business VOICE, DATA, and VIDEO in terms a business owner can understand and appreciate. Features like unified messaging, voice over IP, and structured cabling are just that, features. People who run small businesses have a hard enough job. Their #1 job is in to make money and if we can help save them money, then that is what will keep us in business.

Ok, forgive me with the obscure movie reference. How do I know it is obscure? I am a huge movie buff, it came from one of my all time favorites, and it took me longer to come up with which one it was then it will to type the rest of this blog. How does this translate to business telephones? Well I am the king of obscure.

It all stems from a recent experience with a customer here in the Oklahoma City metro (OK, it was in Midwest City). This company has four lines and a fax line coming into their office with a staff of 12 people. Not a bad size company at all. Their old phone system had died and hired another company to replace it for them. The office manager was not pleased with how the installation went and called us to help configure the system and quote a voice mail package that they opted not to purchase with the initial system.

In the end, the office manager went with an answering machine from a local retailer. For a home office or small company with just one line coming into the business that is an acceptable alternative, except if you are on a call at the time. It is the same with four lines, but a little worse as this is a company that is in the customer service business and depends on their phone system to make money. If the phone does not ring or they do not get their voice mail, well you get the point. The cost of the Toshiba Media Application Server (MAS) was in line with the phone system they purchased. Our sales engineers configure the system that best meets the customers’ needs. It is not as if we were trying to put a V12 in a Kia. In the end it was probably our fault for not explaining the voice mail package benefits to the office manager in order to justify the price tag.

Oh, by the way. In case you were wondering, the movie was Caddy Shack and it was Judge Smells talking to the Bishop in the clubhouse bar.

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Let’s talk about video surveillance for a minute. We can talk about the security features that camera systems offer, the ability to control slippage and productivity as well as the obvious deterrent that CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) provides. However, one aspect of a video surveillance system that gets often over looked is its marketing assistance. With properly positioned cameras a business operator can observe the shopping and spending habits of customers, make record of foot traffic and monitor staff interaction with guests. The retail business uses a phrase called the ‘hold factor’; this means the amount of time a customer spends in a certain section of the store or on specific products. A video system can be used to capture the hold factor and narrow it down to preferred products or promotional items. This accompanied with the security functions a camera system offers can help you improve customer service as well as keep an eye on the shelves.

We all want to make our investments as lucrative as possible and get the most out of every dollar we spend. Having systems in place that have dual use increases that opportunity. Think about it this way; there used to be telephones and answering machines until someone decided to incorporate the two into one function and voice mail was born. The same applies to a video surveillance system; sure it’s main capacity is to protect yourself from lawsuits, deter and catch criminals who can crumble your business and make sure that your employees are working as diligently as you expect. However, for no more investment your system takes on a whole new role when used for marketing also.