2. Customer:
Moneytree, Inc.
www.moneytreeinc.com
Business Challenge:
IT managers decided to migrate from an
inefficient, distributed to a centralized
processing model. That way, 140
retail stores could easily access the
centralized point of sale applications and
customer data at the company’s data
center.
Solution:
After evaluating four tier-1 vendors,
decision makers selected the
CenturyLink IQ™
Networking Private
Port Service. The new multi-protocol
label switching (MPLS) network
connects 140 stores across five
western states to the company’s main
data center. The company also uses
CenturyLink™
Long Distance and Local
Dial Tone services.
Benefits and Results:*
The MPLS solution delivers greater•
value—up to six times more
bandwidth at a similar cost
The remote manageability of the•
CenturyLink IQ Networking service
reduced administration labor hours
The solution’s higher network•
capacity and reliability eliminated slow
application response times and cut
help desk labor hours
Savings in troubleshooting labor•
hours have been reallocated to
business-building projects
The private, encrypted MPLS•
network meets the financial services
company’s compliance requirements
CenturyLink technicians delivered•
network planning and technical
expertise to optimize the company’s
network services
CenturyLink’s nationwide MPLS•
network footprint facilitates the
speedy opening of new stores
Moneytree, Inc.
For some people, an unexpected auto repair can create an immediate
need for cash. However, banks often refuse to cash their payroll checks
if they don’t have an account. Or they hold the funds for lengthy times
until they’ve cleared. So rather than writing a bad check, or backdating
a check that a repair shop won’t honor, people seek out a short-term
loan to cover unexpected expenses.
That’s where Moneytree, Inc. comes in. The company provides
retail financial services to customers through 140 branches across
five western states. From check cashing services to payday loans
to prepaid long distance and prepaid debit cards, the firm meets the
needs of a diverse clientele.
Facing the Challenges
The company’s IT architecture is currently based on a hub-and-spoke
topology. All of the firm’s financial transaction processing is completed
at the corporate office data center. Moneytree’s 140, and growing,
retail stores do not have any processing power, nor back- end point of
sale systems. So they need to access these applications at the data
center to function as a store.
According to Hamilton Dutcher, director of information technology
for Moneytree, Inc., “The network that we have set up between our
corporate offices and our branch locations is incredibly important to us
because without that, the stores would not be in business today.”
The company’s previous, distributed processing model caused
problems that led to the new architecture. It was inefficient, and each
store had its own, independent database. So managers at different
branches lacked visibility into customer activities at various locations.
“This caused confusion, resulted in customer service issues and
potentially cost us revenues to our competitors,” explains Dutcher.
*These results are unique to this entity and should not
be considered an indication of the amount of savings or
improvements, if any, that may be realized by any other
entity subscribing to comparable services.
3. “The Qwest MPLS service delivers significantly greater value
to us in terms of its reliability, manageability, flexibility to
deploy to new stores and competitive pricing. All around, it’s a
fantastic efficiency enabler for our business.”
—Hamilton Dutcher, Director of Information Technology, Moneytree, Inc.
Providing a Successful Solution
The company’s legacy frame relay solution was
expensive for the little bandwidth it provided. Moreover,
it wasn’t very flexible in terms of provisioning to meet
the company’s processing needs.
In response, managers evaluated solutions from four
tier-one providers. They compared them on a number of
key criteria, including network reliability and the ability
to conduct remote management by a small IT staff.
Decision makers also considered vendors’ customer
service abilities as well as their cost-effectiveness in
deploying a network across more than 140 locations.
Initially, the company deployed the Private Routed
Network service. When that service performed below
expectations managers considered alternatives.
Their analysis led them to choose the CenturyLink
IQ™
Networking Private Port Service. The MPLS
solution replaced fractional T-1s with a full T-1 service
to the company’s branch offices. These stores now
access applications and data at the corporate data
center. Rounding out their services, managers have
implemented CenturyLink™
Long Distance and Local Dial
Tone services.
Delivering Results*
“We chose Qwest because their service is more
economical, it’s more flexible, they have a broad service
portfolio, and they offer better customer service than
what we were getting,” Dutcher said.
Low Cost, High Value
“For a similar cost, we have certainly seen significantly
more value in what we receive,” Dutcher said. “We
can measure an actual number of staff employee hour
savings by having our small team affecting large results
remotely to manage the MPLS network.”
Reliability
The CenturyLink IQ™
Networking Private Port Service
is significantly more reliable than the company’s legacy
solutions. “The measurable impact on our help desk is
that we are able to run it with fewer employees than we
had to use before because there’s simply more uptime
and fewer problems to resolve,” Dutcher said.
Previously, when outages or technical issues happened,
store personnel had to work with the company’s small IT
staff to resolve them. With those problems no longer an
issue, “We can redeploy those folks to have them doing
things that drive revenues versus having them doing
things to keep up the network,” Dutcher said.
Scalability and Service
CenturyLink’s national footprint allows Moneytree
managers to easily turn up new stores around the nation
as the company grows. Moreover, CenturyLink IQ™
Networking Private Port Service is scalable to 2.4 Gbps
to allow enough headroom for the company’s most
bandwidth-intensive applications.
(continued on back cover)
*These results are unique to this entity and should not be considered an indication of
the amount of savings or improvements, if any, that may be realized by any other entity
subscribing to comparable services.
