Introducing the Intermedia Business Innovators series – where Intermedia honors business and civic leaders who are improving customer care, employee engagement, and operations through innovative thinking and decisive action.
Strong and consistent communication and collaboration are critical to the success of any business. Dependable and versatile technology helps to ensure that communications between employees and customers doesn’t drop. For AMPCO Contracting, a preconstruction and demolition company, team members are masters at moving earth, but moving people and keeping everyone connected wasn’t always easy and efficient. The company, founded in 2004, is a fast-growing organization that supports massive construction projects throughout the western U.S. The organization has a highly skilled team of distributed employees that requires constant communication to ensure jobs stay on schedule and to plan. The need for efficiency and better tools led AMPCO to seek out a new way to communicate.
I had the opportunity to sit down with the company’s IT Director, Ish Patel, to discuss how technology now enables greater flexibility and agility for their team members.
Intermedia Delivers a Quality, Affordable Solution
AMPCO began its relationship with Intermedia with our email and archiving solutions in 2014, and they were very pleased with the solutions and the support.
More recently, when AMPCO needed a better communications solution, Intermedia’s all-in-one cloud communications and collaboration platform, Intermedia Unite® was viewed as a natural choice. Unite combines a feature-rich business phone system with video, chat, file collaboration, and more all on one integrated, secure, reliable, easy-to-use, deploy, and manage platform. In addition, Unite’s mobile and desktop apps give users the same features and functionality wherever work might take them.
So, what prompted the move to Intermedia Unite?
Paying a premium for an on-premises business phone system that wasn’t deemed as good value became the catalyst to explore other options in the market. While the affordability factor influenced Mr. Patel’s decision, he also wanted a product that had all the necessary features, was reliable, and included exceptional service and support. Already familiar with Intermedia’s service level and performance, Mr. Patel assessed Intermedia Unite and selected Unite as the right platform to migrate to. Mr. Patel explained, “We were using an on-premises phone system that was good but very expensive. Cost was the number one driver, specifically desk phones, but also, it didn’t connect people that well whether in the office or remote. It didn’t have everything. Now people use the Unite apps on their phones and desktops and have full functionality wherever they may be.”
Mr. Patel even credits the technology, and its over 90 enterprise-grade features, with “unlocking and creating a flow of different methodologies for people to communicate.” To that end, he said many team members have opted to remove their desk phones in favor of just using the apps.
Transitioning During COVID-19
During the initial lockdown caused by the pandemic, the entire AMPCO front office had to work from home. Mr. Patel’s main focus was ensuring everyone had the tools and functionality they needed. “The sudden switch to working from home was overwhelming at first but having you guys in our corner and being able to communicate was great,” he said.
Reliability was another test for the system. “During high usage times, there were no lags, failures, or crashes.”
The time working apart also accelerated the use of Intermedia AnyMeeting® for video conferences, which Mr. Patel described as how everyone now communicates. Unite and AnyMeeting provided peace of mind to Mr. Patel because the technology makes it simple to connect all employees and helps keep productivity moving ahead.
A One-Stop-Shop for Everything
Having one platform that handles all of its communications and collaboration needs was a lifesaver for AMPCO. Said Mr. Patel, “Intermedia is a one-stop-shop, and we have one person to contact for everything. I also like how there’s one easy to use, intuitive website portal to manage the system. If I create a new user, they have all the things they need right away. It’s just flawless.”
Beyond the Solution, Intermedia Support is “on Point”
The product isn’t the only reason the company chose Intermedia. It’s the J.D. Power-certified support that’s kept them as a customer. “If I have an idea of something I want to build, I can discuss with our account executive, and I get great advice. It’s always been on point. So, we started with you for the product but stay because nothing’s ever gone wrong.”
In summarizing the value AMPCO gets from Intermedia, Mr. Patel said, “They’re brilliant, excellent, and always on time.”
We’re excited to hear from businesses like AMPCO and how they are using technology to enable better communications, productivity, and more. Hear more about Mr. Patel’s experience by watching my full interview with him.
Scott Anderson
Scott Anderson is Intermedia's Chief Marketing Officer, and is responsible for Intermedia global marketing, including product, brand, direct, channel, demand, and digital marketing, as well as internal/external communications.
May 12, 2021
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