1. TECHNOLOGY & INTERNET SUCCESS STORY
Radical Change of Business Model
Brings Success for ShoreTel Partner
CHALLENGE:
• In 2005, PTS Communications
(‘PTS’) had an opportunity to
deploy ShoreTel for one of its
largest customers, recruiting
firm Robert Half. While PTS had
more than ten years’ experience
in supplying key systems and
traditional PBXs to small and
medium businesses in Sydney,
the company had no experience
with ShoreTel, IP telephony or
networking. PTS set about to
radically change its business model
to address the growing Unified
Communications (UC) market.
SOLUTION:
After undergoing technical training
and certification, PTS completed
its first ShoreTel install internally,
giving the team the opportunity for
‘hands-on’ use to really understand
how the technology worked, and
then rolled out UC solutions across
three new customer sites. Since
becoming ShoreTel’s first certified
reseller in Australia in 2005, PTS
has been awarded ShoreTel’s
APAC Partner of the Year in 2008,
and received global recognition
in 2012 for exceptional customer
satisfaction. PTS’ ongoing success
culminated in a ShoreTel unified
communications solution deployed
across 52 cinema complexes
nationally for entertainment
company Hoyts Corporation in 2013.
BENEFITS:
• Broadened customer base, from
small businesses to national and
multi-national firms.
• Increased annuity revenue with an
increase in maintenance and
support contracts.
• Improved profitability and project
scale by focusing high-value
resources on technical configuration
and design, and remote support and
management.
• Enabled powerful customer
retention and loyalty.
PTS Communications was established in
1994 as a supplier and installer of telephone
key systems and PBXs for small to medium
businesses in Sydney. The business grew
steadily over the next 10 years by
supporting these traditional telephony
systems, until the opportunity came in
2005 to change course and become
Australia’s first certified ShoreTel partner.
PTS is now wholly focused on unified
communications solutions, based on
ShoreTel and its innovation network
partners LifeSize, Jabra, Plantronics and
Polycom. The company prides itself on its
commitment to high quality customer
service and continues to be one of
ShoreTel’s most important partners in the
APAC region.
In 2005, PTS received a call from one of
its largest customers, recruiting firm
Robert Half, asking if PTS could install a
new ShoreTel IP telephony system in its
Sydney office. Robert Half is a worldwide
organisation founded in the US, and had
made the decision to establish a global
standard IP telephony platform, based
on ShoreTel.
“We’d never heard of ShoreTel, so we
quickly organised a phone meeting with
ShoreTel’s New Zealand distributor at the
time, and it sparked our interest so we sent
one of our Engineers to New Zealand for a
training course,” said Nigel Sinclair, Sales
Director, PTS Communications.
After undergoing technical training and
certification through ShoreTel’s NZ-based
distributor, PTS completed its first
ShoreTel install internally, giving the team
the opportunity to have ‘hands-on’ use
and really understand how the technology
worked. Ironically, before the Robert Half
project commenced, PTS won two
ShoreTel opportunities and implemented
telephony for chartered accountants
Logicca, and over 100 users at the Sydney
head office of specialist accounting firm
Ferrier Hodgson.
“Ferrier Hodgson was originally a single
site, and today we’ve rolled out every
capital city in Australia, with the exception
of Adelaide, which is planned to be
cutting over to ShoreTel later this year.
An unexpected opportunity to partner with ShoreTel resulted in a dramatic
change in direction for Australian telephony solutions provider, with both
immediate and long-term success.
2. ShoreTel and PTS Communications PAGE 2
Ferrier Hodgson is running the latest
ShoreTel software on a single image and
the same hardware we installed seven
years ago,” said Sinclair.
Since becoming ShoreTel’s first certified
reseller in Australia in 2005, PTS has been
awarded ShoreTel’s APAC Partner of the
Year in 2008, and received global
recognition in 2012 for exceptional
customer satisfaction. In 2013, PTS
deployed a ShoreTel unified
communications solution across 52 cinema
complexes nationally for entertainment
company Hoyts Corporation. Currently
from 2005 to 2013, PTS has not lost a
ShoreTel customer.
Creating a More
Sustainable Business
In its original business model as a
telephone key systems and PBX
supplier, PTS was constantly chasing
new business, with only five percent of
its customers signed up to support or
maintenance contracts.
Also, it was difficult for PTS to generate
greater efficiencies and profitability for its
implementation projects.
“Back then, we had our guys driving
around in Vans doing installations, support
calls and maintenance. That’s a bit old
school – we don’t do it that way any more.
We have in-house engineers who do
everything remotely and we call in
contractors to do the on-site work when
it’s needed. It was like starting the
business from scratch. It was a change in
direction completely,” said Sinclair.
“Seven years ago, we would have
advertised for an Austel-licensed
technician who had experience mounting
equipment on walls, connecting cables
and programming PBXs. Now, we need a
CCNA or CCNP – a person who
understands networks.”
“For the physical installation work, one of
the hardest tasks is unpacking the phones
and placing them on peoples’ desks – but
we don’t need high-value technical
resources on that job.
Our Team of Certified ShoreTel Engineers
co-ordinate deployment tailoring the
rollout to the individual needs of the
customer.”
ShoreTel is the only unified
communications product that PTS
supports, and it has allowed the company
to win more business with larger
organisations “Today, a significant
percentage of our customers are under
support and we can supply customers
with a thousand endpoints or ten
endpoints – it’s that easy. Our whole
company is now geared around ShoreTel.”
“Our revenues have grown and our support
agreements are constant now – this allows
us to plan and provide the resources to
provide the highest level of support . We
are generating a lot of annuity business
from support agreements and, we are now
working with larger organisations.”
Developing the Business
with ShoreTel
Since installing ShoreTel as its internal
unified communications solution over
seven years ago, PTS has kept its system
constantly updated with the latest release
which has enabled the company to
develop additional business offerings
incorporating the new features and
functionality. After the release of ShoreTel
13.1 in late 2012 PTS launched a ‘messages
on hold’ scripting and production service
for its customers, based on ShoreTel 13’s
native support for imported audio files.
It’s an opportunity for PTS to offer these
services to existing customers with
support contracts as they upgrade to the
latest software version, and a market
differentiator with new customers.
“The great thing with ShoreTel is that we
can assign different messages on hold
audio files to different workgroups on the
system, which is great for customers who
either operate separate departments or
businesses within the organisation that
have different ‘on hold’ requirements,”
said Sinclair.
ShoreTel 13 also brought with it expanded
support for open standards for video
communications, allowing users to
“Today, a significant
percentage of our customers
are under support and we
can supply customers with a
thousand endpoints or ten
endpoints – it’s that easy.
Our whole company is now
geared around ShoreTel.”
Nigel Sinclair
Sales Director
PTS Communications
