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Crate and Barrel
“When decision makers at Crate and Barrel were making plans for their new corporate headquarters, they wanted the building to reflect the same sense of style inherent in the home furnishings the company sells in its more than 100 retail stores. That style is pervasive in everything from the design of the building to the desks at which nearly 400 employees would work. It extended even to the telephones that would sit on top of those desks.
"Part of Crate and Barrel is presentation. Aesthetics are important," says Mark Carrier, telecommunications manager for the firm, based in Northbrook, IL. In his search for a new phone system for the headquarters building, Carrier eliminated some contenders simply because the look of their phone wasn't up to snuff.
"Then I saw the Cisco IP Phone and it looked completely different," Carrier says, noting the phone's roomy display area and sleek profile. Although the phone was part of what got him interested, it was the variety of benefits a Cisco IP Communications system delivers that locked him in. The ability to have his data and voice networks share the same infrastructure not only lowered initial costs, but also continues to provide ongoing operational savings. Likewise, there are productivity gains that come with such IP-based solutions as unified messaging and the fact that IP phones and IP telephony are far easier to use than traditional private branch exchange (PBX)-based systems.”
Duda and Sons, Inc.
"Our Cisco IP telephony solution helped us reduce our network operating expenses by 20 percent while giving us the flexibility to customize our voice capabilities to help our employees be more productive," says Alan Newton, vice president of Information Services at DUDA.” |
