Modernize your communications

It’s a big deal for a small business to secure a government contract. To stand apart from the competition—especially organizations with bigger budgets and more resources—contractors need to provide high-touch personal attention and be accessible to their clients at every stage.

Alabama-based Visionary Engineering & Services is a small government contracting company that provides support to clients such as the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command. For more than 12 years, it has delivered distinguished service to its clients, and it has always actively explored opportunities to grow and diversify the business. Recently, the company realized its aging phone system was holding it back from reaching its full potential.

Hitting  productivity roadblocks

Many of the military clients Visionary Engineering works with use cutting-edge technologies—a stark contrast to its own prior phone system. “We couldn’t transfer calls, we couldn’t retrieve our messages at all. We needed a whole new phone system,” said Visionary Engineering & Services CEO Lucindra Crutcher. The limited functionality of its system made it difficult for the company to collaborate with its clients, and it significantly slowed productivity, especially when working at temporary sites. It also did not reflect a professional image, and Visionary Engineering feared that could be damaging to the credibility it had spent years establishing.

A cost-effective, feature-rich solution

After realizing that it needed to update its phone system in order to stay competitive, Visionary Engineering considered several potential options. But as is often the case for small businesses, the costs and benefits were always a concern. “We just needed to get to the point where we could find the perfect phone system and not be putting out so much money,” added Crutcher.

That’s when Visionary Engineering turned to Verizon. The company already relied on Verizon to deliver its cellular phone service, so it reached out to its sales representative and explained the limitations the business was having with its landline phone system. The representative suggested One Talk℠ from Verizon, a mobile-first business phone system with business-grade features that help increase responsiveness and build a stronger professional image.

One Talk allows call transferring and easy phone number management, and it can be used with connected desk phones, mobile smart phones and tablets.

Plus, since Visionary Engineering was already a Verizon customer, it was able to roll all of its phone services into a single bill. “Verizon helped us combine our mobile phones and One Talk under one umbrella, which saves us money,” said Crutcher. 

"Before, our clients could never reach us. Now, One Talk gives them a direct line to whomever they're trying to reach within the company." 

        — Lucindra Crutcher, CEO,
         Visionary Engineering & Services

A better calling experience

One of the One Talk features Visionary Engineering appreciates most is Auto Receptionist. This service provides callers with a menu of prompts to easily find the person they need to speak with. With Auto Receptionist, the company is able to help callers get where they need to go without the expense of needing a live receptionist on site answering and directing calls.

Visionary Engineering also increased productivity with One Talk’s conference calling. One Talk’s conferencing feature helps staff collaborate more easily, no matter where the team members are located or how late into the night they need to work to make sure new contracts and bid proposals are perfect.

When the company wins a new contract and has to set up a temporary office at its new client’s base or at a new employee’s home, One Talk makes installation quick and easy. Employees can simply unplug their One Talk desk phone from its current location and plug it into a broadband connection port with sufficient bandwidth at the new location. The phone is quickly recognized, and its settings automatically transfer (the user must update 911 location settings). So instead of waiting around for IT to get involved with the installation process, employees are usually able to hit the ground running and begin serving the client right away.

One Talk also makes it simple for Visionary Engineering to introduce a mobile strategy into its operations. “We are currently investigating the ability to utilize the mobile app on our employee BYOD devices, which will make this even easier since employees would no longer need to take their desk phone with them to remote locations. Their personal devices will have full access to One Talk capabilities,” said Crutcher.

"One Talk is very easy to navigate.  It's very friendly.  With the conferencing feature, we can easily add other team members to a call when we need.  And the connection is so clear." 

        — Lucindra Crutcher, CEO,
         Visionary Engineering & Services

Modernizing with One Talk is the right call. 

With One Talk, Visionary Engineering & Services got the cutting-edge phone system it was looking for, which offered more functionality than its previous system at a lower price. Customers are able to reach the company more easily, and employees can collaborate more efficiently—all in crystal-clear HD quality. Better still, the company can rely on Verizon to provide knowledgeable and professional customer service support whenever it needs it—a benefit that was missing with its previous service provider. “It was very hard reaching the other provider. With Verizon, I can actually get somebody and talk to them,” said Crutcher.

Visionary Engineering no longer needs to worry about whether a lack of calling features is damaging its reputation—or its bottom line. Simply updating an aging phone system made the business more connected, more productive and more competitive. “We had phones that would not do any of the things that One Talk has for us now. One Talk has opened so many new possibilities for our business,” said Crutcher

Why Verizon 

Whether you’re on the go or in the office, we know that serving your customers is a top priority and critical to the success of your business. With One Talk, we help small businesses offer callers the same professional experience they get with an enterprise. Plus, we help ensure that you never miss a customer call. One Talk provides a quick and easy way to connect employees, remote locations and even vendors to help everyone communicate and stay productive.

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Contact your Verizon Wireless business specialist to learn more about how One Talk can help you grow your business.  For more information about One Talk, click here or visit a Verizon Wireless store near you.