MAY/JUNE 2009

www.questsys.com

s a Managed Services provider and technology partner to businesses largeand small, Quest knows the value of using the right tool for the job.

And, like its clients, Quest faces the same challenges of a modernbusiness — including organizational decentralization, telecommuting

employees, escalating travel costs, and the need for cost-effective ways tocommunicate with staff and customers in real-time.

Several years ago, Quest staff began bumping into the limits of the toolit was using to meetits conferencing andcollaboration needs,so CEO Tim Burkedecided the time wasright to look for abetter replacement.

After evaluating anumber of solutions,Quest chose CiscoWebEx, which got thethumbs-up for its easeof use, cost-effective-ness, and scalability aswell as its smoothlysimple administration.

Today, Cisco WebExconferencing and col-laboration solutionshave become anessential part of howQuest does business,transforming the way

Quest works internally and with clients. To date, Quest has reduced its costs byusing WebEx for online meetings, remote support for Managed Services clients,a collaboration network with messaging and shared storage for projects with staffor clients, and PC-to-PC and video calls.

WebEx’s benefits are being reaped all over the company. Here’s a look at howQuest’s sales and customer support, business development, and IT staffing areputting WebEx to work.

AWhen remote means responsiveQuest Network Operations CenterManager Mike Walters has lostcount of the time and money Questhas saved with Cisco WebEx.

“It’s immeasurable,” he says. “Ourresponse times for remote supportare helped dramatically by WebEx,since it works on almost every plat-form out there. Customers havecome to embrace the remote supportand how fast it can help get an issueresolved. Plus, when customers aretraveling, WebEx makes supportingthem simple. It really doesn’t matterwhere someone is as long as they’reconnected to the Internet.”

CASE STUDY

IN THIS ISSUE

WebEx Brings Big Benefits to Quest’s Own Operations

From Tim Burke: SaaS can reduce costs

Profile:Quest brings you WebEx

Did you know? ROI is high for WebEx adopters

What’s new…Gain competitive advantage

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THE BOTTOM LINE

From any workspace anywhere, Quest employeesand customers use WebEx to meet, train, andattend video conferences together. Collaborationmade simple.

A simple, easy-to-use collaborationand conferencing technology tooldelivers cost-savings and benefits toevery corporate function.

WEBEX BRINGS BIG BENEFITS (Cont.on p.2)

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STRATEGIC ADVIS0R

Askia Howell, Pre-sales Engineer,agrees, citing a recent example of how“firing up a WebEx™ session” allowedhim to respond to a client need “withinminutes instead of traditional time-frames of four to twenty-four hours.”

And thanks to WebEx, QuestAccount Manager Justin Trammellspends less time on the road and canschedule more time with clients andprospects. “I’m able to articulate myvalue proposition,” he explains, “byvisually communicating with clientsthrough online collaboration.”

Reaching and teachingQuest’s Marketing Director, BarbaraKlide, finds big value in using WebEx’swebinar functionality to reach out toprospects and client.

“For example, we offer Quest tech-nology seminars throughout the year inmultiple locations,” reports Barbara.“But no matter how many locations ortimes we make available, we knowthere are people who just can’t attenddue to scheduling conflicts. WebExmakes it simple for us to set up a webi-nar so everyone can attend. And wecan record the session for convenientfuture viewing.”

Improved staff training for businessdevelopment campaigns is anotherarea where WebEx shines, addsBusiness Development Team memberLoni Aguero.

“You can simply show the point youare trying to make by sharing yourscreen,” says Loni. “Not only does thiskeep everyone on the same page, italso saves tons of time.”

Keeps recruitment cycle flowingSydell Olivier, who recruits, qualifies,and coordinates Quest’s human IT

WEBEX BRINGS BIG BENEFITS (Cont. from p.1) FROM TIM BURKE...

hile Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings like Cisco’s WebEx arebeing readily embraced by businesses and IT shops, SaaS offerings

for other applications, such as ERP and compliance, face stiffer opposition.No matter the company size, the reasons for rejecting SaaS can range

from loss of control to concerns about security. But most often, especiallyin these times of tight budgets, it’s apprehension about costs that stalladoption — folks get hung up on the monthly charge.

True, there’s a new line item in the budget. But there’s also a wholelot of cost associated with doing it the old way that can be eliminated,including the cost of the software, support, on-going maintenance, andthe constant need to refresh your infrastructure to support new capabilitiesand enhancements.

The SaaS model, when properly priced, can be 30-to-50% less expensivethan a traditional approach. But caveat emptor (buyerbeware): not all SaaS offerings have sensible pricepoints. A trusted technology partner can help youwade through the SaaS hype and decide what’s rightfor your business.

Bottom line: SaaS offers all businesses,regardless of size, a way to reduce over-all costs — and a less expensive way tobring new capabilities, and new ways ofdoing business, to the operation.

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engineering resources, is using WebExConnect features that combine InstantMessaging and Space Sharing (a kindof SharePoint on steroids) to reduceher recruitment cycle time-to-hire by a whopping 75%.

“WebEx,” explains Sydell, “provides asecure, easy-to-view space for our cus-tomers to look at resumes and askquestions about each candidate, sothey don’t have to sift through emails.And within this space it’s easy for me tochat with customers — even when

they’re in meetings taking care of otherbusiness. WebEx keeps Quest’s recruit-ment cycle flowing.”

It’s a breezeQuest’s last word on WebEx comesfrom Marketing Coordinator andWebEx site administrator Amy Comi.“WebEx,” she says, “is a breeze tolaunch and administer — you don’tneed to be especially tech savvy. WebExalso has great customer support andno-fee training resources.”

SaaS Can Reduce Costs

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Quest’s Managed Service:

t’s now easier than ever for online collaboration andgenuinely dynamic web-based meetings to become partof your business strategy.

Meet with anyone, anywhere, in real timeQuest now offers services based on WebEx Connect, anopen-standards-based, highly secure software-as-a-serviceintegration platform that merges collaboration applicationsand business software in new ways. So now you can affordto meet with anyone, anywhere, in real time — and neverleave your desk.

By using WebEx from Quest, you’ll have everything youneed to share information and work efficiently. You can seewho’s present and available. You can use ad-free, business-class instant messaging. You can share desktops, documents,business widgets, and rich-media presentations. You canescalate an IM to voice-over-IP. You can launch meetingsfrom a call, a chat, a discussion, or a document.

Adding collaboration to any processQuest offers four WebEx Meeting Applications that can beadapted to meet your particular business needs so thatcollaboration can be added to any process:

■ WebEx Event Center enables delivery and management of online events, even large ones — including real-time sharing of documents, applications, and rich multimedia presentations that contain audio and video.

■ WebEx Meeting Center also eases sharing of applications,documents, and presentations. Meetings can be initiated from Microsoft Office, Outlook, Lotus Notes, IM, and Cisco WebEx Connect.

■ WebEx Support Center means you can provide realtime IT support anywhere in the world.

■ WebEx Training Center integrates management of training sessions, break-out sessions, threaded Q&As, polls and surveys, testing and grading, multiple panelists with key collaboration capabilities.

It’s all about the cloudBehind WebEx is Cisco’s WebEx Collaboration Cloud (WebExMediaTone Network) — a secure, private, global networkbuilt to do large-scale, real-time web collaboration.

The scalable Collaboration Cloud uses a strategically-located series of data centers around the world that routedata on dedicated, high-bandwidth fiber. All sites, sessions,and connection data are mirrored — so if a connectionbreaks, all collaboration data is instantly restored.

WebEx from Quest means you can get cost-saving,results-boosting collaboration capability simply by subscrib-ing to a service. Ongoing management, upgrades, training,and support are included and the ROI is immediate.

WebEx: Thriving with Leading-Edge Collaboration

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DID-YOU-KNOW?

No matter the company size or industry, there are WebEx usersharvesting impressive ROI numbers. Here are a few that caughtour attention:

• A major car manufacturer used WebEx Training Center to train 2400 dealers in just six months at a cost of $0.75 — yes, that’s 75 cents — per person.

• WebEx PCNow helped one healthcare billing and management company improve its data entry productivity by 25%.

• Using WebEx Training Center, a provider of solutions for consumer electronics has reduced employee training costs by 96% and product launch time from two months to just two weeks.

• An international law firm improved the quality of its leads and sold a $30,000 subscription from one small investment in WebEx.

• Thanks to WebEx Meeting Center and WebEx Event Center, travel costs were cut by $150,000 per month and revenue-per-sales-rep jumped by $15,000 per year for a developer of healthcare industrybilling solutions.

ROI is HUGE for WebEx Adopters

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What’s New...

Coming in the next issue of Quest Strategic Advisor:

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Replication In A Box Visit http://www.questsys.com/media.aspx for:

Discover where the HOT DEALS are and which PRODUCTS are TOP SELLERS.

Check it out at www.Questcatalog.com

Wondering how your competitors are using collaboration tools togain competitive advantage?

An IDG Research Services survey* of CIO Magazine subscribers has explored this issue and found that collaboration technologies are being leveraged in two key ways: in support of sales staff and knowledge workers, and to interact with customers and clients.

The most popular use of collaboration tools and software is for remote IT support, used by 75% of those surveyed. Following close behind is online training (66%) and online meetings (65%).

More than half of those surveyed used collaboration tools and software for

Portals (61%)Instant messaging (59%)Online webinars/events (57%)Shared workspaces (52%)

And check out MIT Professor Erik Brynjolfsson explaining the paybackcollaboration tools can bring to SMBs (on video) athttp://www.bmighty.com/hardware_software/showMedia.jhtml?id=208600001.

*http://www.idgconnect.com/informationmanagement/itstrategy/collaborative_efforts_survey_reveals_clear_business_acceleration_using_on_demand_collaboration_tech/

PODCASTSQUEST ON THE RADIO: Download the podcast on Quest’sThreat Review Process.

PCI Compliance podcast: Join (Co-Hosts) Scott Draughon(My Technology Lawyer) and Oliver Rist (InfoWorld) asthey interview Mike Dillon (Quest CTO) and Jon Bolden(Quest Director of Professional Services) about PCI (PaymentCard Industry) compliance.

VIDEOSWho We Are: Colleagues describe achieving businesssystems success with Quest’s help.

Data Security video: Hear direct from the FBI, securityexperts and your peers about the in-depth security issuesand how Quest can help protect your company.

HCIN video: Learn how Quest used VoIP and VideoTechnology to help Health Care Interpreter Network(HCIN) design a workable language interpretation solution that complies with regulations, improvespatient care, and increases revenues.

Business Continuity Planning/Disaster Recovery: Morethan 25% of businesses damaged never recover fromnatural and/or man-made disasters. Ensure your future.

Video overview of our Infrastructure Services: Wireless,Broadband, Fiber-optics, Fiber Splicing, InfrastructureCabling and more.

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FROM THE QuestCatalog.com

IN THE MEDIA ROOM

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STRATEGIC ADVIS0RPublisher: Tim BurkeEditor: Barbara Klide

Contact the editor at barbara_klide@questsys.com

All contents copyright © 2009 by Quest Media & Supplies, Inc, unless otherwise noted.Quest Strategic Advisor is published bimonthly by Quest Media & Supplies, Inc.Information contained in this newsletter is believed to be reliable but cannot be guar-anteed to be complete or correct. Quest Media & Supplies, Inc. assumes no liability forany use of this newsletter and/or the information or opinions it contains. QuestStrategic Advisor and questsys.com are trademarks of Quest Media & Supplies, Inc.Other product, service, and company names mentioned herein may be servicemarks,trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective holders. To the best of Quest’sknowledge, cited data and research findings belong to the organizations to which theyare attributed and Quest Media & Supplies, Inc. asserts no claim to them.

DILBERT: © Scott Adams/Dist. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

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