Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld Finds Flexibility in the Powerful 3CX Solution

With over 500 employees spread throughout the district, Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld was in need of a company-wide Unified Communication (UC) platform that could make communications more efficient, and employees more mobile. What’s more, they wanted to rid themselves of the costly and inflexible solution they had become accustomed to. After evaluating several options, the organization found that 3CX offered all of the features they were looking for and more.

The Challenge

The organization’s previous phone system, an Avaya®* Integral 55, had high support and maintenance costs. With no flexibility, or migration options to all-IP, it was incredibly expensive to scale, and had the IT administration team dependent upon support.

Network Telecommunications Manager, Stephen Johannes, considered various replacements for their outdated Avaya® PBX. After looking at Unify®* and Mitel®*, as well as testing Pascom/Auerswald®*, he found that 3CX could offer the features and flexibility they needed whilst also cutting costs. It was the perfect Avaya® alternative.

3CX Offers a Solution

As 3CX is an open-standards PBX and can be deployed on standard server hardware, Johannes was able to easily integrate the new system with their existing infrastructure. This allowed him to save money and transition more easily without the need to disrupt other services.

With the help of 3CX Titanium Partner, ISP-EURONET and Value Add Distributor headON, the transition to 3CX took place without failure in ten hours and with no problems. To ensure smooth sailing, all preparatory measures were taken parallel to the running of the existing PBX before the final switch.

ISP-EURONET and Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld successfully deployed 3CX on-premise with the organization’s existing infrastructure. 50 IP phones and 200 UP0 devices were converted to Yealink T46G VOIP devices, of which they currently use 300.

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“3CX was a replacement for Avaya®. The existing VoIP infrastructure was to be further expanded in order to make the transition from simple telephony to company-wide UC. The 3CX apps and web client have made it possible to provide users with a powerful and easy-to-use softphone. The advantages of the seamless integration into our VMware infrastructure on the Windows platform were a crucial purchase criterion in order to build the four pillars of communication that we rely upon: PBX, VoIP platform, IP phones and Softphones, all independent of manufacturer dependencies. We made the right choice in selecting ISP-EURONET to implement a project of this size smoothly. They were able to grasp our needs quickly and offered corresponding solutions to suit our requirements exactly.”

Stephen Johannes, Network Telecommunications Manager, Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld

The Results

Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld found that employees were able to quickly adapt to the new system after training from ISP-EURONET, but noted that the intuitive and user-friendly softphone apps and web client assisted greatly. As well as cost savings, increased mobility, more seamless communications across all locations, and integration with their VMware infrastructure, Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld’s administrators are now able to easily manage day to day tasks such as configuring extensions and performing updates with just a few clicks.

The Customer

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Located in the historic, landlocked state of Bavaria in the southeast of Germany, the district of Rhön-Grabfeld lies south of the Rhön mountains. The district has a population of almost 80,000 across 6 towns and 31 municipalities. Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld carries out administration and municipal tasks as well as tasks of the lower state managing authority. Areas of responsibility include the granting of benefits under the Social Security Code XII (Social Welfare), the organization of public transport, and the care of nature and landscape conservation areas.

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