Case StudyLorain County Commissioners

Challenge

Lorain County Government had an outdated network of phone systems – over 2,000 across more than 15 different locations – that were purchased in 1999. When their telecommunications vendor went out of business, the county sought a new partner, and Mitel recommended Warwick.

Solution

The first priority was updating the government’s voicemail program that had reached end of life. Warwick upgraded the system in October 2014 while the county continued to utilize their old phone systems. During this time, Warwick supported the county with 5-10 service calls each year, addressing challenges that the county wasn’t able to handle in-house.

After a few years, the county decided it was time to upgrade their phone system. They hired a consultant to assist in the process and elected to move forward with Mitel and Warwick. As a pilot program, they chose to upgrade within their Job & Family Services facility. The goal was to move to a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) system, IP telephone lines that offer immense benefits. Through the initial upgrade within Job & Family Services, the county was able to save $7,500 monthly.

Warwick is currently upgrading the remaining systems within the county with expected savings of an additional $17,000 per month. The county has also started to leverage some of Warwick’s IT resources to set up networks, re-cable and finish additional projects that other vendors were unsuccessful in completing.

Not only does this upgrade offer a significant cost savings, but it also allows the county to have a “resilient network.” With SIP, a system can fail over to another building or circuit in the event of an outage. By proactively addressing failures and finding an alternative way to create a voice network automatically, the county is able to maintain reliability and better serve the community.

In addition to finishing the county-wide upgrade, Warwick will continue to offer service and support for the government in the coming years.