Cargo Airport Services
Challenge: Rapid Installations and Limited Resources
Cargo Airport Services Sees Unmatched Value in ShoreTel Sky
“There is no comparison between ShoreTel and other communications companies,”
Vida Shaver, IT Manager, Cargo Airport Services
Cargo Airport Services USA (CAS) is based out of JFK International Airport and provides ramp, international cargo handling and facilities management services to over sixty carriers in sixteen cargo facilities throughout the United States and Canada, including New York’s JFK, Washington Dulles, and DFW in Dallas. The company prides itself on its investment in the most advanced IT solutions in all facets of its operations. Its network infrastructure includes a cloud-based communications system hosted by ShoreTel.
Cargo Airport Services has nearly two dozen facilities and is regularly adding facilities and airlines to those facilities. When a new airline awards a contract to CAS, a go live date is determined and airline agents are placed in the CAS facility. CAS must quickly make changes to its ever-expanding phone system to get their new agents operating by that date. This includes setting up call routing so when a customer calls, there is an option to reach the airline. Managing a staff to handle these changes would be time consuming and expensive, likely extending startup dates and increasing overhead costs.
Solution: ShoreTel Sky Saves CAS Time and Costs
To minimize resource constraints and meet tight deadlines, CAS prefers to have ShoreTel manage and host its phone solutions. “I have a small infrastructure staff that often doesn’t have time for a rapid install or to program phones at each site,” explains Vida Shaver, IT manager at Cargo Airport Services. “Because we have a managed phone system, all I have to do is call ShoreTel to order the new phones and use the online portal to send them programming requests that they complete offsite. That’s a huge time and cost saver for our IT staff and ensures phones are customized and working quickly.”
ShoreTel Sky phones have a variety of convenience features, business analytics, call recording (ShoreTel Sky RePlay), voicemail to text conversion (ShoreTel Sky Scribe) and built-in disaster recovery to help customers be as productive as possible. Phone Assistant displays caller information on the computer screen and allows users to make, take and transfer calls online. The Service Portal enables CAS to look at call history, forward calls to cell phones, transfer calls automatically after a certain number of rings, and various voicemail options. Call analytics is a useful reporting tool that enables CAS to examine call trend data so it can become more efficient and responsive. For example, the company recently began using the Live Answer Service Metric to identify calls made between specific time periods and peak call times so it can better determine whether an additional call center is needed. And CAS never has to worry that its phones will go down due to weather or other incidents. All calls go through secure offsite ShoreTel data centers and can be routed to cell or home phones if needed. It’s business as usual, even if the airport is shut down.
ShoreTel provides dedicated account managers and Support resources to help CAS fully utilize the many features and functions of the phones. “There is no comparison between ShoreTel and other communications companies,” says Shaver. “They are easy to reach, responsive and knowledgeable. They personalize our system to meet our specific needs without adding additional costs.”
Results: ShoreTel Earns Highest Compliment – Referrals
Occasionally, an organization may have a finance department unwilling to invest in an enhanced phone system when the current one seems to “work fine.” Yet Shaver would tell them that the monthly fees for a hosted ShoreTel Sky solution is less than the capital costs incurred when purchasing an in-house phone system that lacks the same scalability and robustness. “You can also save money on what you would have spent on upgrades and changes to the old phones, let alone the time invested in staff to support an antiquated system,” says Shaver. “You have to ask yourself, ‘if I bring a system in-house, do I need additional staff to manage it? How much do capital costs increase when I have to roll out a change in a facility?’ It is critical to evaluate the total cost to operate the system.”
Shaver has been so pleased with their ShoreTel Skys phones and service, she recommends them to airlines and other industry peers regularly, especially when they are frustrated with their existing phones. When an airline moves agents into a CAS warehouse, the airlines often are often challenged to get their phones working before the startup date, so Shaver invites them to use CAS phones until they can get theirs installed, often weeks later. “I consider our infrastructure and the speed at which we provide it to be part of the high quality service CAS has to offer its airline clients,” she says. “We get plenty of compliments in IT because of these phones. We chose ShoreTel Sky because we didn’t want our phone systems dictating when we could start working.” The sooner CAS can get the phones installed, the sooner they can service their customers and impact revenue.