For more than 40 years, Carleton has been synonymous with excellence in the design and manufacture of high pressure pneumatic components and systems for the world's aerospace and defense industries.

Value Proposition:

Carleton Technologies was in desperate need of a new phone system their existing Legacy PBX was out of production and didn’t provide a cost effective means for upgrade. Carleton also has plants in 3 US cities and 1 in Canada. Engineering staff and Management needed an easy way to leverage the existing IT WAN for collaboration and better overall communications.

The ShoreTel system adapted to their existing IT infrastructure. ShoreTel’s ease of use and management allowed the existing IT staff to take over day to day systems management and also participate in the deployment of the installation.

Carleton was able to drive down their overall cost of ownership and add real dollars to their bottom line.

Testimonial:

The day that Carleton Technologies decided to install a ShoreTel IP PBX in their Orchard Park, New York headquarters, an email came in from the company’s second site in Maryland. The phone system at the Baltimore location had tanked. Company leaders told their newly selected service provider, PremCom Corporation that installation of the new telephone system would have to begin immediately at their satellite site.

Carlton’s Julie VanKoughnett, was assigned to oversee the changeover. She remembers flying into Maryland the next day with Peter Proulx from PremCom.

“The PremCom crew built a server, configured it, and very neatly constructed the entire new system,” she explained. “By two o’clock that afternoon, we had phones in place. Everyone was very pleased. It wasn’t until we were finished and ready to leave that Peter gave me his card. Peter is, PremCom’s chief executive officer,”

She remembers with a smile that PremCom‘s CEO had “taken himself out of retirement,” to personally handle a job that needed to be done immediately. “It was amazing that PremCom was able to pull it off.” “This installation came up unexpectedly.” said Peter PremCom’s CEO “We had several other installs going on so I decided that I would jump in and help out. The truth is that this system is just that easy to implement. Before starting PremCom I was an engineer. It felt great to get back into the field, and personally help out our client.”

However, it wasn’t just “above and beyond” service that convinced Carlton administrators that they have made the right choice in selecting a ShoreTel system.

“For us, another selling point was that it wasn’t an all or nothing choice,” said Jim O’Hara, the IT manager. “We had the ability to use analog as well as VOIP technology. For instance, after the changeover in Maryland, they still used analog phones on the desktop, but all the phones had a voice-over link to our headquarters in Orchard Park. It made for a very easy conversion from our old system, but a quantum leap in technology. It also provided us with the potential to grow VOIP as we grew.”

Carleton Technologies, which makes high pressure pneumatic systems for the aerospace and defense industries, had been faced with a surprisingly old fashioned dilemma when it came to changing phone systems. Their original service provider had told them they were going to discontinue support.

“We looked at replacing the system or leasing a new system. Both solutions would be very expensive. ShoreTel was somewhere in the middle of the two solutions, but over the course of the next five years the costs were going to be dramatically less, and we would own the equipment,” O’Hara explained.

And it turns out that converting to ShoreTel not only enhanced the company’s communication procedures, but it enhanced the communication capabilities of the IT manager as well. “I used to be horrible about answering voice mail,” O‘Hara continued. “ShoreTel’s link of voicemail with email allows you to answer voicemail through your email system. It‘s fantastic.”