Unified Messaging Success: Paralon Technologies

The Company
Paralon Technologies' 15 full-time employees provide secure remote accessand mobile computing products to commercial and government users worldwide.Established in 1992, Paralon is a privately held corporation headquartered inSeattle, Washington.

The Problem
Because Paralon is a high-tech company, effective internal and externalcommunication is an absolute necessity. In its early years, Paralon leased asmall PBX system to handle its telephone messaging needs. This system providedtelephones at every desk but offered limited expansion capabilities and novalue-added features. Employees often spent much time taking messages andfielding calls outside their areas of expertise. These tasks took them away fromtheir usual duties.

Wanting to improve the situation, Paralon looked at several proprietary,standalone voicemail systems, but none met its needs. So the company decided toinvest in a messaging solution that was better integrated with its Windows NTnetwork and phone system.

The Solution
After evaluating computer telephony solutions on the market, Paralonselected CallXpressNT, a unified messaging product from Applied VoiceTechnology. CallXpressNT, one of the first NT-based messaging products, providesa universal mailbox for voice, fax, email, and data messaging. When someonecalls, the system routes the call directly to the appropriate party. The days oflost messages and messages on little pink pieces of paper are long gone.

In addition, the system's call manager GUI lets users make intelligentdecisions about how to handle incoming calls. By answering the questions "Who'scalling?" and "Why?" the GUI lets employees efficiently Screencalls, thereby increasing efficiency and productivity.

Because it was crucial that the messaging system meet its future needs,Paralon made sure that the NT-based system was scalable and flexible. To thesystem's current integration of voice and email with the NT network, Paralonplans to add automatic call routing, expanded voicemail capabilities, and anauto-attendant in the near future.