Westwind Digital Communications

As the evolution of computers have gone from a specialty tool to an everyday necessity, so have individuals level of knowledge. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but when it comes to technology, I am an early adaptor. Smartly so on some technologies and a bust on others. A self-taught computer user that loves the newest toys is the best way to describe me. While I was the first kid on the block to get an iPod, I was not one of those that got a Laser Disk Player. In case you missed that fad, it was a DVD on steroids and was about the size of an LP. If I need to digress further back to “What in the world is an LP?”, than this would be a blog on ancient Inca tools and not what is the latest and greatest within the world of voice, data, and video.

There are limits to my knowledge base and I’ll be the first to admit it. However, if it comes down to calling one of my I.T. buddies or heaven forbid a “Help Desk” it usually goes far beyond an easy fix. Unlike my mother-in-law who called me one day because, “Yahoo is missing.” I let you sit and ponder that one.

And then there is my father who works on computers for up to 12 hours a day and needed help getting his music library downloaded on his iPod. Yeah, 45 minutes on Apples website and several restarts later his iPod turned into a Zune to which I simply replied, “I’m going to need to call you back.”

David Fletcher-Hall - Our "go to" guy

Small businesses are much the same way as my parents. They are good at what they do, but not experts in everything. Computers are powerful tools that can both simplify your life, but be very aggravating. Finding a business partner to offset the sides you are not as confident in does not show signs of weakness, but flashes of brilliance. Andrew Carnegie once said, “The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it.” Knowing who to turn to is as easy as asking.

If you read our blog often you see a theme (aside from the random movie quotes) that usually starts, “We were talking to a customer . . . “

Being in business for 20 years you get to see and hear a lot of things. Fortunately this time it was not a situation Westwind Digital or the customer created, but it was a headache we both had to deal with. The topic today is the importance of structured cabling and maintaining the integrity of your investment.

A small business had made the investment when moving into a new office of going with structured cabling. One reason is they went with a VoIP telephone system.

There are many reasons compelling to go with a structured cabling system. Instead of rehashing them, here is a good article citing a few of them.

http://www.technology-toolkit.com/computers-and-technology/what-is-a-structured-cabling-system

What we ran into was an electrical subcontractor that came in behind us. As you can see below, they ran the electrical lines literally on top of ours.

An example of what not to do.

What is the big deal you ask? Great question! Electric lines put out a lot of “noise” and interfere with the signal going through a CAT 5 line even if the cables are shielded. This interference will make any phone sound like you are talking in a tin can and could even knock a computer off the network. Here is an example of what a good structured cable should look like:

What a good run should look like.

Not that we are telling you how to run a business. If you paid for structured cabling, you might as well reap the benefits of having it.

It has been particularly wet this month in Oklahoma. It seems a little early for all the rain, but I’ll never complain about an early fall. Weather like this reminds me of the fall days as an undergrad on the best campus in the nation, but I digress. I know this will sound a little weird for a company to give advice as to how to keep our company from prematurely visiting your phone closet, but think of us as your telephone doctors. Medical doctors are paid for fixing your ailments, but would rather see you healthy. Right?

The past few weeks have been busy here at Westwind Digital Communications. The thunderstorms have been strong this fall and I’ve been told when you hear thunder there is lighting. Or is it when you see lighting there is thunder. Can you have one without the other? Hmmmm. Where was I?

Ah yes, busy weeks. The lightning monster has been feasting on unsuspecting and, worse yet, unprotected telephone systems. The key word in that sentence is “unprotected.” A simple $100 UPS battery backup and surge protector will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Hundreds if we can replace a few parts. Thousands if the whole telephone system gets fried.

It’s as easy as this. A good salesperson should do a good needs analysis. Based on what they find they should come up with a full package to fulfill all your needs. When looking at the proposal, if there are items that do not make sense to you, simply ask. A good salesperson can justify their proposal and not add fluff. Loooooong story short is do not skimp. There may be ways to cut costs, but just like my dad says, “You get what you pay for son.” In the end, ask yourself, “What will it cost us to go without phones for a few days?”

Most of the time we get your run-of-the-mill telephone system request. That does not mean we take short cuts when it comes to finding out about a customer’s operations. For one thing, as a trust I.T. provider we do not want to over look any aspect as it may come back to haunt us down the road. Secondly, asking the right questions allows us to sometimes find a way we can make a customer more efficient and save money at the same time. That‘s when we become a trusted partner in their business.

I have stated this before, we are lucky to have some of the best technicians in the entire state of Oklahoma. Combined they account for over 100 years of technical expertise. That does not mean they are miracle workers and when its time for a phone system to be put to rest, it’s time. We had a customer who was seeing more and more of our techs at a regular interval.

Chad and I went to see them and after doing some digging, we discovered a way to save them over $6,600 a year on their phone bill. The main office was in Oklahoma City and had two satellite offices in Edmond and Wilson Oklahoma. They also had an employee that worked out of her home in Albuquerque, NM. The office in South OKC had been connected point-to-point to Edmond with a dedicated T1 line and all four locations were incurring considerable long distance charges as they all interacted with one another on a daily basis.

What did we come up with for a solution? Well, we installed a new Toshiba CIX 670 phone system, ordered a PRI from AT&T, and killed the dedicated T1 line between the two offices. On the phone system was a new MAS (Media Application Server) with unified messaging and fax to desktop. This centralized the voicemail for all four locations. We then set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and tied all four offices together using Cisco routers. This way we were able to utilize VoIP and eliminate the long distance charges from the telephone carrier. Another great benefit is we did NOT need to travel to New Mexico to set up the home office. Our technician simply programmed the phone and mailed it to the young lady’s home in Albuquerque. All she had to do was plug her phone in and she was off and calling! Now any call comes to the receptionist in OKC and she is able to rout it to the proper office with the caller not knowing where they called in the first place.

In the end, the customer really did not care what we had done. They got a new phone system, it works, and he saves money every month. Simple as that.

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.