Isabella Bank’s VoIP Savings

CenturyLink Solutions Featuring:CenturyLink IQ™ Private Port ServiceCenturyLink™ Long Distance Service andCenturyLink™ Control Center ApplicationCase Study: Isabella Bank

Customer:Isabella Bank Isabella Bankwww.isabellabank.com With 1.4 billion in assets , Isabella Bank has become a recognizedBusiness Challenge: financial services provider in Michigan. Based in Mount Pleasant, theIT managers resolved to migrate theiraging Frame Relay system over to an firm supports customers through 24 state-wide locations. TheseIP-base network. The switch would allow services include 24-hour banking locally and nationally via ATMs. Athem to implement a cost-saving VoIPproject as well as quality of service (QoS) corporate Website provides customers access to 24-hour on-linecapabilities. Moreover, by consolidating banking applications. On the loan side of the business, employeesonto a single provider, managers wouldreduce the administrative burden of originate and process residential and commercial real estate loans alongmanaging 70 monthly phone bills. with student loans and credit card accounts among other offerings.Solution: The “always-on” expectations of banking customers today requires ITIsabella IT staffers worked withCenturyLink specialists to install the managers to maintain high availability to applications, data and voiceCenturyLink IQ Private Port service at 22 communications across the firm’s network.bank locations. As long-distance contractscame up for renewal, executives migratedto the CenturyLink Long Distance service.Managers use the CenturyLink ControlCenter application to efficiently manageconsolidated phone bills.Benefits and Results:• Migration to the CenturyLink IQ Private Port service cut some location expenses by up to 66 percent over previous solution with another vendor• Cut long distance per-minute costs by transferring to CenturyLink Long Distance service• Reduced phone system help desk calls to 2 percent of total FACING THE CHALLENGES• CenturyLink IQ Private Port solution Managers recognized that it was time to retire their aging Frame Relay significantly increased the reliability of system. “We wanted to get away from our fairly risky Frame Relay the network network,” said Vern Houin, network manager for Isabella Bank.• CenturyLink IP-based network allowed the bank to implement QoS to support a The President of Financial Group Information Services, (a wholly owned cost-saving VoIP deployment subsidiary of Isabella Bank Corporation) Jon Wainwright agreed, saying,• Control Center application consolidated long distance bills to significantly “We’d taken Frame Relay about as far as we could go with it and we simplify administration were concerned about its limitations going forward. That’s when we started looking seriously at MPLS technologies.” Beyond his concerns, Houin was excited about the opportunities that MPLS solutions offered. “We were looking to expand into voice over IP services and to leverage quality of service capabilities along with other initiatives. We knew that only new MPLS technology could bring that to us.” Budget considerations also weighed on managers’ minds. “Our long- distance contracts were coming up for renewal, so we used that opportunity to evaluate alternatives,” said Houin. “We wanted to install *These results are unique to this entity and should not be considered an indication of the amount of savings or improvements, if any, that may be realized by any other entity subscribing to comparable services.

“The consultation, advice and proactive support we’ve received from the folks at Qwest have shifted the way we think about them—to us they’re a partner, not a vendor. Our network is now based on modern MPLS technology which gives us the flexibility to adapt to future business needs. ” — Jon Wainwright, President, Financial Group Information Services, (a wholly owned subsidiary of Isabella Bank Corporation)a contiguous solution from a single provider so that we Executives also reached their goal of reducing long-didn’t have 70 phone bills to administer every month distance expenses. “The Qwest long-distance servicefrom different companies.” achieved a lower per-minute rate than what we paid to our previous supplier, so we feel those savings arePROVIDING A SUCCESSFUL SOLUTION something we can hang our hats on,” said Wainwright.Managers worked with CenturyLink specialists toinstall the CenturyLink IQ Private Port service at 22 ENHANCED FLEXIBILITY AND PERFORMANCEbank locations. Once deployed, Isabella IT managers The CenturyLink IQ Private Port service delivered theimplemented a VoIP system at these sites. The functionality managers sought. “The MPLS circuitscombined circuits provide employees with voice and allowed us to implement the QoS we needed to roll outdata services to support their customers. voice over IP service to our employees,” said Houin. “That has made the phone system much more stableExecutives have phased in the CenturyLink Long and it’s also given us the savings that come with anDistance service at sites as their existing contracts with internal VoIP system.”other vendors run out. Employees use the Web-basedCenturyLink Control Center application to effectively Additionally, Control Center delivered the phone billadminister the bank’s consolidated phone bills. administrative relief that Houin desired. “The application allows us to consolidate our long-distance bills. ControlDELIVERING RESULTS Center also gives us the granularity to give different roles to different people. Those two things have allowed us toTo date, the CenturyLink solutions and account team handle electronic billing more efficiently.”have performed as advertised. “We’re very happy tohave them as our business partner,” said Wainwright.“The migration to the Qwest iQ Private Port and long- HIGH RELIABILITYdistance services have reduced our expenses while The reliability of the CenturyLink IQ Private Port servicegiving us the reliability that we wanted.” has met managers’ expectations. “We’ve been able to depend on the Qwest network services,” said Houin.CENTURYLINK SOLUTIONS REDUCED EXPENSES “We don’t have the outages that we had previously, and that gives us peace of mind.”The migration of Frame Relay contracts to CenturyLinkIQ Private Port circuits have provided significant savings (continued on back cover)in some locations. “We’re literally looking at costs thatare one-third the size (66 percent savings) that we hadwith our prior vendor,” said Wainwright. *These results are unique to this entity and should not be considered an indication of the amount of savings or improvements, if any, that may be realized by any other entity subscribing to comparable services.

cr101228 11/11 CR090882 04/09 (continued from inside page) The consistent performance of the CenturyLink Long Distance circuits has had a direct effect on the bank’s help desk staff. “The calls we get related to the phone system or voice over IP issues have dropped to two percent,” said Wainwright. That works out to be around 10 calls per month in an organization that serves over 350 people. So as far as our phone system is concerned, it takes care of itself.” 1801 California Street Denver, CO 80202 1 800-860-1020 www.centurylink.com/business ©2011 CenturyLink, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than CenturyLink entities.

Isabella Bank’s VoIP Savings

by CenturyLink Business on Jul 03, 2012

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Isabella Bank’s VoIP Savings Document Transcript