The Customer

Globus Eight is a leading IT systems integration company headquartered in India and the United States. The company established itself as a disruptor in the technology sector when it launched the G8 Eco application, an affordable, high-performance desktop computer. Globus Eight offers turnkey solutions to various sectors such as education, retail, real estate, hospitality, healthcare, and enterprises in India, the United States, and Africa.

Globus Eight is a leading IT systems integration company headquartered in India and the United States. The company established itself as a disruptor in the technology sector when it launched the G8 Eco application, an affordable, high-performance desktop computer. Globus Eight offers turnkey solutions to various sectors such as education, retail, real estate, hospitality, healthcare, and enterprises in India, the United States, and Africa.

Business Challenges

As an international company with multiple locations, telecommunications was one of the main channels for communication among staff, partners, service providers, and customers. The company relied heavily on traditional phone lines and mobile phones as means of communication. These solutions were costly and did not offer the current business telephony features provided by most modern phone systems. For a young, growing company like Globus Eight, moving to a high-quality, value-focused, self-contained phone system capable of delivering first-rate voice communications while keeping costs under control was crucial. The customer approached Onewood – a systems integrator – which recommended deploying the FreePBX solution.

The main challenges faced by the customer were:

  • High and recurring monthly telephone costs
  • No single, unified business communication system
  • No auto-attendant or voicemail
  • No business features such as conferencing and call recording
  • No means of conducting inbound/outbound calling campaigns
  • Limitations associated with dependence on a third-party system

Sangoma Solutions

The Sangoma solution included the installation of two FreePBX instances as well as the following commercial modules – Class of Service, Fax Pro and Call Recording Reports. The FreePBX instances were installed in India and the United States. In India, the FreePBX system was connected to the local PSTN, and in the United States, it was connected to two ITSP lines. This enabled inbound and outbound calls to the outside world. The two FreePBX systems were then connected to each other via an IAX2 trunk to enable uninterrupted calls between staff in the offices in India and the United States. IVRs were installed on the FreePBX system and connected multiple extensions across both sites.

The Sangoma solution included the installation of two FreePBX instances as well as the following commercial modules – Class of Service, Fax Pro and Call Recording Reports. The FreePBX instances were installed in India and the United States. In India, the FreePBX system was connected to the local PSTN, and in the United States, it was connected to two ITSP lines. This enabled inbound and outbound calls to the outside world. The two FreePBX systems were then connected to each other via an IAX2 trunk to enable uninterrupted calls between staff in the offices in India and the United States. IVRs were installed on the FreePBX system and connected multiple extensions across both sites.

The role of the commercial modules: Although the FreePBX deployment provided a superior, high-quality telephone system, the client wanted to harness the power of commercial modules to obtain advanced telephony features. These include:

  • Class of Service: This module enabled granular control at the extension level over access and permission settings for specific PBX features. These features include outbound routes, feature codes, ring groups, queues, conference rooms, voicemail broadcast groups and paging.
  • Fax Pro module: The Fax Pro module is a reliable and robust inbound/outbound fax server. This module enabled the client to activate faxing for users on the system. A phone number then had to be assigned to a specific fax user.
  • Call Recording Reports: The Call Recording Report module enabled the client to view, sort, listen to, archive and download all calls recorded on the system. This module also helped overcome two general challenges associated with call recording – searching detailed call records (CDR) and storage depletion due to the required archiving.

The Results

The deployment of the Sangoma FreePBX solution provided the client with a complete, feature-rich business telephone system at an incredibly low cost. How did the client benefit?

The deployment of the Sangoma FreePBX solution provided the client with a complete, feature-rich business telephone system at an incredibly low cost. How did the client benefit?

  • Affordable investment. The FreePBX distribution is open-source and free. The commercial modules are modestly priced.
  • The cost of business communications decreased by 90% after switching to FreePBX.
  • The new phone setup, complete with individual extensions, supported business growth.
  • The voicemail feature made communication more convenient.
  • Implementing an IVR enabled customers to reach company staff easily and directly.
  • The Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) or call queue feature made it possible to queue inbound calls and ensure that no calls were missed.
  • The conference bridge enabled conference calls between staff and customers.
  • Call Recording Reports enabled the company to record and keep track of all calls with customers.

In summary, by deploying FreePBX and the commercial modules, the client obtained a world-class business communication system at a very affordable price and reduced monthly telephone costs to a minimum. Internal calls became almost free, and international call rates are now equivalent to local call rates thanks to the adaptation of the SIP trunk. The new telephone system infused positive energy into the young, growing company.