Dynamic Takes Phone Solution To The Bank

"We had totally outgrown the old system," said Bob Kobbeman, CEO of Capital City, based here. "It was designed to handle two or three locations, and it was patched together as we expanded." Today, the community bank operates 10 locations throughout Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City and plans to add more.

Capital City wanted to upgrade to a system that could grow with the bank and provide a common telephone interface for all of its employees, while also trimming the fees it was paying for lines from its RBOC, Southwestern Bell, said Kobbeman. Enter Dynamic Computer Solutions of Topeka, a solution provider that had been working with the bank for 10 years.

The solution provider, which had implemented the bank's frame relay- and ATM-based WAN, already had intimate knowledge of Capital City's network environment and recommended an IP telephony solution based on technology from Reston, Va.-based Siemens Enterprise Networks, the U.S. convergence subsidiary of Siemens AG, said Jay Ives, vice president of sales at Dynamic.

The bank's existing system was a clunky hodgepodge of Centrex services, key telephone systems and analog phones from a variety of vendors, Ives said. Phone features varied from branch to branch, making it difficult for employees to move from office to office. And each branch had its own local lines, so the bank incurred long-distance charges when employees at one office called co-workers at another, said Cecelia Adam, COO of Capital City.

Dynamic installed a Siemens Hicom 150 H Office Pro digital communications server at each branch for VoIP capabilities; implemented Cornet over IP, Siemens' internetworking protocol for establishing communications channels between switches; and deployed 145 IP-capable Siemens OptiSet digital phones. The system easily scales by adding phones, cards or servers, Ives said.

Dynamic also upgraded the operating software on the bank's Cisco routers and worked with Southwestern Bell to tweak the network to handle voice traffic, he said.

Since the bulk of the bank's internal and incoming calls would travel over the WAN, Dynamic took time to ensure that it eliminated Quality of Service problems from the network before the phone system went live, Ives said.

The strength of Siemens' product line is its ability to handle analog, digital and IP technology, Ives said. "Every type of telephony technology can be working in the same switch at the same time," he said.

The customer was able to cut the number of analog lines provided by its RBOC by 75 percent, saving the bank about $18,500 per month.

In addition, Capital City's two-person IT staff can now manage moves, adds and changes through a Windows-based user interface, saving the time and expense of placing service orders to Southwestern Bell, said Adam. The system is expected to pay for itself in about five years.

Since June, when the implementation was completed, the bank has noticed significant improvements in customer service and productivity, Kobbeman said.

The new system employs a four-digit dialing system, so branches share the same prefix and local customers can use a common, familiar number, Kobbeman said. The system also includes intercom calling and a call-parking feature that allows employees to place calls on hold and pick them up from any extension on the network.

"Dynamic and Siemens convinced us we could [get the same level of call quality we were used to, and so far they've been right," Kobbeman said.