Sports Marketing Firm Works in Effective New Ways with Cisco SMB Partner Stratatech & Cisco Technology

October 6, 2006

A couple of years ago a publishing company that produces magazines for sporting events wanted to start a promotional sports agency within the print media company, and Ion Marketing was born. Doug Kimmel, partner for the new Manhattan-based sports marketing group, grappled with a number of problems on the technology front.

"As a marketing group we had very different technology needs than the printing company," he says. "They were heavy into graphic design with a Macintosh-based solution." Kimmel and the rest of the Ion Marketing struggled with outdated systems that weren't allowing them to interface effectively with clients or with each other. By March 2005 Ion Marketing was preparing to move to new office space, and Kimmel was convinced that in order for the company to spin off from the publishing company and be successful in its own right, its new office space had to be outfitted with new technology.

Cisco Silver Certified Partner Stratatech Group, LLC, located in nearby Norwalk, CT, provided technology support in various capacities over the years for the sports publishing group. As a full systems IP infrastructure provider, Stratatech provides its clients with everything from designing and deploying network infrastructures to Day 2 support, as well as software development, and Web site development and hosting. Through a partnership with Vantage Communications, a Cisco SMB Select Partner, Stratatech can offer clients like Ion Marketing an outsourced, managed Cisco IP solution. Based on voice, data and security products from Cisco, and delivered over a Carrier-class Cisco Powered network, the Vantage IP Service combines all of the productivity features and benefits of IP Telephony with cost-effective communications services and infrastructure. This enables companies to have an enterprise-level communications system, such as Cisco Unified Communications, but without the upfront investment or staff to maintain it.

Kimmel met with several other local systems integrators, but in the end, his long relationship with Stratatech, and in particular with its partner Fior Lostumbo, won out. His established working relationship with the Stratatech team, along with their technical knowledge, gave Kimmel the confidence he needed.

Fior sat down with Doug to learn about Ion Marketing's business and build on Doug's technology goals. From those discussions, Doug developed Stratatech's recommendations for Ion Marketing. These included a converged voice/data network with a core infrastructure running Microsoft Small Business Server and Exchange Server for email. A T-1 line would handle a Cisco Unified Communications solution that would run on Cisco switches and include Cisco IP Phones.

"IP is the wave of the future," says Lostumbo. "And Cisco Unified Communications is scalable, flexible and will accommodate Ion Marketing's growth for years to come."

The company has many internal meetings and impromptu group discussions on ideas for clients.

"We were looking for easy ways to have ad hoc meetings wherever they might happen in the creative environment, not necessarily in a conference room or at someone's desk," he says. To address this need, Lostumbo added a wireless component to the Cisco solution. By surveying the new office site, wireless access points could be placed so that no matter where employees gathered to discuss client needs, they were accessible and online.

With the IP and wireless solution finalized, it was time to plan deployment. By his own admission, Doug put Fior and Stratatech under tight timelines.

"The whole process took awhile because we were still figuring out how to spin off from our parent company," says Kimmel. "But once we were ready to go, we essentially had to be up and running over a weekend."

Lostumbo and the Stratatech team planned the deployment with painstaking attention to detail. They consulted with the local Cisco office to ensure that their configuration plans were accurate. Equipment was configured and tested at the Stratatech site, so troubleshooting and adjustments could be handled before deployment. T-1 lines were installed and tested in the new office space as it was still being built out. When Ion Marketing employees were ready to move into their new offices, Stratatech had their new network and communication solutions ready.

And as the Ion Marketing team settled into their new offices, they were almost unprepared for what the Stratatech and Cisco Unified Communications and wireless could do for their business.

"This technology has completely changed our world," says Kimmel. "The solution that Stratatech recommended - the flexibility, the phone system and the wireless access - allows us to work in new and really effective ways. And it's all really easy to use." To ensure everyone would be up to speed quickly with the new network and phone system, Stratatech provided on-site training. The hosted solution provided by Stratatech and Vantage Communications provides Ion Marketing with a clear channel data T-1 circuit, unlimited local and long distance calling, Internet access, PBX call control features, disaster recovery, remote access and support for telecommuting workers, and advanced applications and desktop features.

Kimmel says that Ion Marketing's new technology will eventually pay for itself, both in cost savings and in productivity.

"The initial investment is significant, but when we factor in long distance savings and how it streamlines our entire business practice, it will pay for itself," he says. "When we're traveling, it's easy to plug in and make a phone call. Voicemails show up in email inboxes so our employees know instantly that they have a voicemail and can respond to it." Before, Ion Marketing employees had to go through the office to check voice mails and often a whole day would go by before messages were responded to.

Lostumbo is used to seeing this kind of enthusiasm for IP technology. In the last year Stratatech has seen a large increase in the numbers of people calling to inquire about it for their businesses, and the firm is responding with growing numbers of proposals.

"I think IP used to be kind of scary to people, but they see their cell phones operating almost like a PC these days and are using them to get their emails and synchronizing them with contact management software," he says. "It's really opened people's eyes to how their phones can be so powerful and streamline day-to-day operations. For businesses, it's not just a money-saver, it's a money producer."