Siemens' Enterprise Solutions business unit has successfully completed, in just one week, the installation of a telephone management system (TMS) at Eskom's head office, Megawatt Park, in Gauteng. Winning the tender above six competitors, Siemens rolled out the Proteus Corporate TMS within the short time required.
Holding the biggest Hicom 300 network in the country (with over 40 000 extensions) and in line with its market-focused strategy, ESI-TEL, the telecommunications business unit of Eskom Enterprises, recognised the need for an effective billing and management system to better serve its customers at Megawatt Park, its flagship site.
To ensure the simultaneous onset of various other projects, in keeping with required deadlines, one of the primary conditions of the tender was that the TMS be rolled out in just one week. The tender also called for a Web-enabled TMS capable of handling 8 000 extensions and approximately 80 000 call records per day.
Said ESI-Tel Key Account Manager, Khosi Rasefate: "With Telkom bills reaching an average of R800 000 per month, a reliable telephone management system was considered crucial to ESI-TEL, the division of Eskom Enterprises responsible for telecommunications services to Eskom. The Proteus system proposed by Siemens provided the most effective solution for splitting the costs of Telkom bills and in providing an up-to-date directory service on the Intranet. The facility to use the Web interface to access the telephone directory, and the electronic distribution of telephone usage reports were the biggest draw cards for ESI-TEL. The directory feature lightens the load on switchboard operators in terms of number enquiries and gives customers direct access to TMS reports and performance stats to report on budgets and new developments. Proteus also provides an effective and quick system for scheduling reports and sending accurate billings to the various customers."
Proteus, developed by CTI data solutions, is a powerful, easy-to-use Windows-based call management software application, which captures and records data on incoming and outgoing telephone calls from the PBX, and automatically interprets this into as many as 33 standard management and 9 graphical reports that help control and improve a company's telephony costs. The reporting features of Proteus are used for cost allocation throughout the company, to increase the telephone network efficiency, to monitor the quality of service to customers over the telephone, verify telephone bills, monitor call traffic activity and to identify abuse and fraudulent use of facilities.
"Proteus," explains Siemens product manager, Andrew Stoltz, "calculates all calls made and bills them separately so that call costs can be broken up to the many different departments. Using the Web reporting and Web administration facilities, the Proteus server can also be accessed via a Web browser from any workstation. Users, normally managers of departments, are allocated, internally, a user name and password that will allow them to view their departments and cost centres.
"Proteus also automatically updates the Web telephone directory as soon as a change is made and makes this information instantly available to anyone using the directory. The Web-directory can be accessed from any PC on an organisation's LAN/WAN that has Microsoft Explorer."
Rasefate commented: "Our past, long-standing relationship with Siemens and its proven capabilities to provide a one-stop-shop were ideal in meeting ESI-TEL's requirements. The roll-out of the TMS went according to schedule and we are extremely satisfied with the level of support provided."
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