Panasonic Unified Communications & Baptist Union QLD | Case Study

January 18, 2019
Telephony Solutions

For close to a hundred years, Baptist Union of Queensland has been serving a wide constituency that encompasses a family of churches, educational facilities and community care programs. The current Baptist portfolio includes a database of resource materials; the Baplink loan program for churches and community facilities; Carinity community services for families, aged, homeless; and Maylon College for theological education.

After replacing their outdated legacy communications systems with a streamlined Panasonic solution, Baptist has increased efficiency while substantially lowering costs, allowing the NPO to better serve their ministry.

“Extremely happy with the high performance of the Panasonic NS1000 system. Reliability is excellent and it is meeting requirements and expectations.”
– Phillip McCallun, Director of Administrative Services, Baptist Union of Queensland

THE CHALLENGE

A mish-mash of legacy equipment spread throughout multiple remote sites, all with varying degrees of existing telephone systems was proving cumbersome and ineffective, resulting in high communication costs.

THE SOLUTION

The consolidation of PBX functions into a single server, combined with an upgrade of IP phones resulted in a system that was uniform across all sites and visible to all users, providing an overall reduction in operational costs.

THE IMPLEMENTATION

Certified Panasonic unified communications reseller, Commander Centre Brisbane West analysed the matrix of communications technology fielded by the Baptist Union of Queensland.

The first challenge was that all remote site systems were handled by local management resulting in a mish-mash of telephony that could not be improved through unified communications options. This resulted in high communications costs.

Next, PSTN and ISDN trunks were employed on a tolling basis resulting in high monthly costs. There was no strategy in place to bring remote sites in line for cost savings or to take advantage of evolving technology.

The solution offered by Commander Centre Brisbane West was underpinned by the powerful and feature-rich Panasonic KX-NS1000 Business Communication Server.

A single KX-NS1000 provides consolidated PBX functionality for two or more networked NS series and the system can be expanded easily via a web-based maintenance console. With maximum support of up to 16 sites, there is more than enough capacity to link all of Queensland Baptist’s remote facilities into one powerful, cost-effective network.

The KX-NS1000 also enables installation of IP phones in locations distant from the office, such as the homes of teleworkers, and by using a software phone app on a smartphone or PC, mobile workers can also use IP phones as extensions when they are away from the office. This server was paired with a total of 97 Panasonic KX-NT500 Series IP Handsets to provide continuous operation, which was a top priority, , as well as unified communications and visibility of all users.

PRODUCTS SUPPLIED

THE RESULTS

The benchmarks for success of the system deployed for the Baptist Union of Queensland were measurable savings over their legacy system’s operating costs as well a single platform solution that could handle numerous remote sites and provide them with system functionality and expandability. Expected improvements include a minimum of 10% savings against previous operational costs. Cost reductions against total current telephony costs are estimated to exceed $4,000 per month, or a 33% monthly saving.

While Baptist Union of Queensland’s communications presented a unique challenge for Commander Centre Brisbane West, by implementing this suite of Panasonic solutions the NPO can now enjoy the benefits of improved productivity, better management of call handling and cost control, and complete reliability across the system.

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