OTTAWA, Ontario - Mitel, the trusted provider of IP communication applications and solutions for growing businesses and enterprises, has been selected by tech giant Seiko Epson to deliver networked IP business communications at three South American subsidiaries. Comprised of the flexible and highly scalable Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) and integrated business applications, the solution will be deployed in Argentina, Chile and Peru.
Mitel's proven IP communications solutions were identified as the best fit for these branches of an organization dedicated to customer service and technological excellence. The units of Epson selected Mitel independently after a lengthy and careful analysis of several leading vendors before concluding that Mitel best met their current needs and offered the most forward-looking technology solution.
Raul Ferrol, IT manager at Epson Argentina SA and Alvaro Duran, his counterpart at Epson Chile, concluded separately that Mitel's scalable 3300 ICP, Mitel IP phones, Mitel OPS Manager, Mitel Teleworker Solution and Mitel Your Assistant Softphone would allow them to take full advantage of the cost savings and business process integration capabilities of IP communications.
"The decision was taken autonomously in each subsidiary and - fortunately - turned out to be the same, thus reinforcing each party's decision," Ferrol says. "We conducted a thorough analysis of key Mitel competitors, but Mitel was the clear winner."
A crucial consideration in the selection process was Mitel's advanced adoption of and commitment to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP is an open international communications standard that allows for interoperability and easy deployment of services in much the same way that hypertext mark-up language (HTML) redefined the Internet and helped create the World Wide Web. The 3300 ICP provides native support of SIP to enable users to leverage the power of the Internet to deliver a whole range of business processes and potential that delivers a host of benefits. Mitel phones have long supported both SIP and Mitel IP (MiNET) protocols on a single hardware platform.
With this technology in place, Epson Argentina can not only link its exchanges locally to achieve seamless integration of all its communications, but can also extend this connectivity to other countries. Since Epson Chile chose the same vendor makes it easy to combine resources so that the two subsidiaries in different countries effectively share a single exchange.
The easiest part of the decision-making process, according to Ferrol, was that moving to an IP-based platform would not only eliminate the cost of calling between three separate buildings, but it would provide a wide-range of rich features and new functionality for the company's contact center. He concluded that IP communications would help employees collaborate more easily and more harmoniously, while optimizing resources and enhancing Epson's image by presenting clients with a single point of contact and first-call resolution.
Nevertheless, he adds, the impact of the change was profound, as it resulted in important savings in monthly communications costs, increased interaction between offices and better utilization of resources, as calls could now be re-routed to any available agent in any location. Ferrol was also happy to find that he did not require any help from his service provider in performing the potentially complex task of configuring an exchange in Argentina and providing his colleague in Chile or Peru with instructions for configuring his exchange in the same way.
Ferrol says the success of the implementation confirms that he and his colleagues made the right decision in choosing the Mitel Networked Business Solutions. "The quality of the communications is excellent; its use is transparent to the user; and its administration is extremely agile and simple," he concludes.
-Ends-
About Epson
Epson is a global leader in imaging products including printers, projectors and LCDs. With an innovative and creative culture, Epson is dedicated to exceeding the vision and expectations of customers worldwide with products known for their superior quality, functionality, compactness and energy efficiency. Epson is a network of 98,480 employees in 107 companies around the world, and is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and to the communities in which it is located. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., the Group had consolidated sales of 1479.7 billion yen in fiscal 2004.
About Mitel
Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Mitel's voice-centric IP-based communications solutions consist of a combination of telephony hardware and software that integrate voice, video and data communications with business applications and processes. These solutions enable our customers to realize significant cost benefits and to conduct their business more efficiently and effectively by enabling enhanced communications, information sharing and collaboration within a business and with customers, partners and suppliers. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide. For more information, visit www.mitel.com.
© Press Release 2006
