Printable Version

Remember the proverbial rhyme, “For Want of a Nail?” It illustrates how small actions can result in big consequences. First the shoe was lost, followed by the horse, rider, battle, and finally the kingdom being lost — all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Conversely, small actions taken promptly can result in significant improvements. This is one such story. It features Fluid Process
Equipment, Inc. of Kalamazoo (located at the front gate of the Business Technology and Research Park) and how its decision to invest in a new phone system enhanced productivity.

Founded in 1985 by Glyn and Susan Lake, FPE with its 30 employees in multiple Midwest locations, is a leading pump distributor serving a wide range of industrial and commercial organizations. Some of the markets served are automotive, chemical, ethanol, food and beverage, municipal, utilities, pulp and paper, and more.

What Happened: In mid 2009, according to Elaine Gibbs, Controller and HR director, a salesman’s experience was that “nail” that made the difference.

She said: "A salesman called and said 'I am so angry. One of my customers called the Kalamazoo office about six times. He could not hear anyone on the other end and he got so frustrated that he called our competitor and bought the pump.’

When Glyn was told what had happened, he said – “Get a new phone system!” Gibbs says, “We had been experiencing some issues with this very old phone system anyway, so we went shopping. We started with our existing phone company, but they didn’t really comprehend what we were trying to do.”

She then called CTS and John Carlson came out immediately. Together they went over everything FPE wanted including: VoIP, individual direct phone lines, Internet service and hosting, conference calling and to integrate our computers into one system. John said, “We can do that with our Metaswitch.”

Gibbs visited CTS for a demonstration of the VoIP system by Diane Barron, CTS Customer Relations Planner. Gibbs said, “I was totally impressed, and I want all of that!” John and Diane laughed as Gibbs said, “No, I am serious, I do want all of it.”

The decision: Gibbs recalls the many features of the system that made the difference. First there is the web-interface software, which provides visual voicemail, displays new voicemail and faxes, missed and received calls. She can see the calls she missed and redial them with Click-to-Dial; she can also listen to her voicemail via this software, known as CommPortal. “I never need to pick up the handset,” she notes.

The Metaswitch integrates voicemail from your office phone with Outlook email and that instantly passes to the Smart Phone. Gibbs points out that all of her voicemail calls are available through the web-interface or her Blackberry. She also uses her Outlook Contacts to make calls. “If I want to call anyone, I just click on the name and the number is automatically dialed, hands free.”

Fiber Installed: Fiber Optic cable was the first installation task. This building was one of the first in the Park and thus did not have fiber installed. Gibbs will tell you that the system installation was seamless and the technical people were most understanding and professional.

“While the technicians were installing the VoIP system, Diane was going around doing the programming,” says Gibbs. “She would talk with us about what she was doing, and why. Diane held training classes for everyone the same day of the installation.”

Because the CommPortal is integrated with Outlook email and Outlook Contacts, Fluid Process Equipment decided to convert to Outlook. Diane assisted with the transition to the new email and the interface with Click-to-Dial and Unified Messaging with their Blackberry cell phones. Gibbs reports that Diane was available anytime by e-mail, text message, and cell phone or at her office. It did not matter what the question was or to refresh us on a training point. “She was fantastic,” said Gibbs.

Final Report: “Our relationship with CTS is nothing short of fabulous. When we had special requests, someone – and it was often Diane – was right on it. For example, we needed help installing a warehouse paging and phone-to-phone intercom. It was no problem for CTS,” Gibbs adds.

“Besides being a wonderful company to work with, they (CTS people) know their products, their installation, their training and their customer follow-up. It is by far better than almost any other company I’ve worked with,” concludes Gibbs. The “nail” in this story was the new phone system from CTS. It enhanced customer and individual communications. It helped to improve sales efforts, customer service and individual productivity.