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BackgroundTeenNow California is a non-profit organization

dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of expectant and parenting teenagers and their young children, and to the prevention of adolescent childbearing.

Established in 1971, its membership represents educators, social workers, health care providers, parents, policy makers, and many others. The organization runs an annual state conference, regional workshops, a quarterly newsletter, teen services directory and several other services.

A non-profit organization, TeenNow maintains a limited operations budget and is quick to leverage advances in technology that generate operational efficiencies and that enable them to focus more on the teenagers and children that need their help and less on systems and administration.

The ChallengeWith a growing constituent base with expanding

needs and a limited budget, TeenNow found itself having to respond to the dual and conflicting pressures of

increasing service levels while at the same time maintaining or decreasing operational costs.

After a recent office move, the management team took the opportunity to look internally at their organization in an effort to identify operational efficiencies that could help them better meet their organizational goals on a limited budget.

They concluded that their IT and Telephony infrastructure had become time-consuming to manage and its growing complexity was stopping them from streamlining their business processes.

‘We are always looking to improve the way we do business; it was obvious we needed to overhaul our network and phone system to meet our new requirements.’ said Dana Goodrow, CEO of TeenNow, ‘for example, one of the things we want to do to is to allow our volunteer staff to access our network and technical resources from outside the office; this would allow them to spend more time ‘in the field’ where they can do the most good rather than coming in to the office as frequently. Our operating budget cannot support a full or part-time technical expert so we needed a solution that we could manage ourselves as much as possible.’

TeenNow California also identified a strategic need to increase service levels for their constituents and at the same time, not increase operating costs. In addition, they had specific feature requirements including: an ‘automated

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Needs•lower operating costs•‘do more with less’•increase service levels•lower support costs

Features•automated attendant•remote management•remote access•soft-phones•voicemail

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attendant’ to eliminate the need for a receptionist and still maintain high service levels, remote management to lower support costs, voicemail for all staff, Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and soft-phones to increase flexibility for staff and volunteer workers.

The SolutionTo help identify the right solution, TeenNow engaged

VividIP, a well-established Telephony and IT VAR specializing in communication solutions for small businesses.

After a detailed requirements analysis, VividIP identified the Sutus Business Central 200 (BC200)as the ideal solution for TeenNow.  Designed specifically for businesses of three to twenty five users, the BC200 is a single device that runs all of the telephony, data and and IT infrastructure in a small business.

‘The TeenNow team basically wanted to start from scratch.’ Said Michael Zadeik, CEO of VividIP. ‘However, just like any successful business or organization, they couldn’t afford any downtime so they needed a solution that would not only run all of their infrastructure in a reliable and easy-to-manage fashion but one that could be up and running literally within hours.’

The BC200 is an enterprise-grade phone system with a wide array of advanced data and networking functions such as: file server, email server, router, firewall, wireless access point, VPN remote access, automated backups, and the ability to simultaneously support both standard phone line and VoIP connections.

The appliance can be installed quickly and easily and has extensive management features via an easy-to-use GUI that allows companies to adjust their IT and phone processes, without third party support, as their business needs change both on site and remotely.

Zadeik explains, ‘Instead of buying a new server, phone system, router and all the relevant operational and security software, TeenNow ended up with a single

appliance that delivers everything they need and has the capacity to support them over the next several phases of growth. What’s more, the Business Central is simple enough they can manage it themselves.’

‘Of course,’ Zadeik adds, ‘having an easy-to-manage system doesn’t mean they will always have the time to manage it. The TeenNow team was particularly happy that the remote management features built into the BC200 mean that they can tell us what extra services or changes they need, and we can deal with it in moments from our office at a much lower cost than would have been required to either send a technician onsite or to take the time to explain things over the phone.’

The ResultWithin hours of moving into their new office, the

TeenNow team had transitioned from their old systems and was up and running with their new phone system, network and data services. VividIP was then able to remotely login and set up shared workspaces, soft-phones, all relevant security services and virtual private networking for the organization’s road warriors.

‘It’s amazing,’ said Goodrow. ‘You just don’t expect to be able to completely replace your network and phone system in that timeframe, let alone have it work perfectly first time. The fact that it is simple enough that we can handle our own network and phone administration is fantastic; and when we are too busy to do it ourselves, the guys at VividIP can quickly sort things out remotely rather than having to send a technician onsite, saving us a bundle.’

Goodrow concludes, ‘I should also add that I brought in VividIP after I had already carried out a lot of cost-benefit research on different solutions. I was amazed at what the Business Central delivers us for the price we paid.’

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Contact Sutus 1.778.371.5286 www.sutus.com