In today’s digital era, independent and locally owned newspapers are becoming increasingly rare. Paddock Publications, Inc., an independent publishing company, is an exception. Hosea C. Paddock started the company more than 120 years ago. Since its inception, four generations of Paddocks have built a chain of weekly newspapers into the Daily Herald, the third-largest newspaper in Illinois.
The company’s strategic plans include continuing to expand in the growing suburban Chicago market and a strong commitment to serving those communities. In addition, by offering Internet services to advertisers and printing publications for a myriad of other organizations, the Paddock organization is well positioned for growth.
“In the Internet world, we provide digital services to our clients, which include marketing, retargeting, email, website improvements, and search capabilities, as well as create, sell, and publish community guides for Chamber of Commerce organizations throughout the country. Our other endeavors include producing an award-winning Hispanic publication, a business-to-business publication, the Business Ledger, and printing specialty publications for many other companies,” explained Stu Paddock III, SVP/Digital Technology and Information Systems for the Daily Herald.
ShoreTel impresses with robust Contact Center and user functionality
Prior to the evaluation process, Paddock Publications created a cross-functional, cross-department committee of 12 stakeholders. The group started by researching eight telephony companies, and then narrowed the list to three prospects before choosing the ShoreTel solution. Aside from superior call sound quality, robust Contact Center functionality weighed heavily on the team’s decision.
“The Daily Herald has two call centers. One handles subscribers and the other takes care of classified ads. The committee chose ShoreTel because the sound quality was superior and functionality of the software was more innovative and intuitive. That was important because we wanted the supervisors in our call centers to easily manage their departments, as well as access reports and call tracking data. ShoreTel excelled in those areas,” said Paddock.
Employees also gave the new phone system high marks. User-friendly ShoreTel enables employees to manage their own phone features such as forwarding business phone calls to a cell phone, synching with their Microsoft Outlook calendar, and conferencing up to six people on a single phone line. Residing on the desktop, ShoreTel Communicator software also makes the phone directory easily accessible.
“Compared to other phones, even the physical ShoreTel device is superior in quality. With our old system, if I pulled away while on the phone, the phone would go flying off my desk because it was so light. This may sound like a small thing, but when it occurs often, it’s not,” commented Paddock.
Savings include both soft and hard costs
Overall the company has realized cost savings due to less reliance on expertise within the IT department. The intuitive administrative software eliminates the need for a dedicated telephony expert since anybody on the IT team can respond to special requests. The company also doesn’t have to bear the cost of a PBX infrastructure or the maintenance costs associated with those systems, which saves tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Productivity is also on the rise. ShoreTel speed dial capabilities have enabled the editorial department to save time.
Reporters regularly call 100 police stations to collect crime reports from various communities. All of those phone numbers are now a click away on the speed dial system. In addition, voice mail to email enables newspaper staff in the field to listen to voice mails on their cell phones so they no longer miss important calls.
“The ability for reporters to be off premise and receive phone calls, make calls through the ShoreTel system, and to have the ability for phone calls to find these staff members at their cell phone, home, or wherever they happen to be located, are among the improvements that have made our employees very happy,” commented Paddock.
Partner CT Pros enables the Daily Herald to deploy ShoreTel with confidence
CT Pros implemented the ShoreTel solution and training. They continue to be available to troubleshoot technology issues if they arise. “I’d highly recommend CT Pros. They do exactly what they say they’re going to do. They’re great at project managing. They are patient with our employees. The CT Pros organization was a very good choice for us,” remarked Paddock.
“Bottom line, we’re a service company, and ShoreTel has greatly improved our ability to provide exceptional customer service”
Stu Paddock III
Daily Herald
About ShoreTel
ShoreTel, Inc. is a leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems and unified
communications solutions. Its award-winning on-premises IP-PBX solution and cloud-based
hosted phone system eliminate complexity and improve productivity. Recognized for its
industry-leading customer experience and support, ShoreTel’s innovative business phones,
application integration, collaboration tools, mobility, and contact center applications enable
users to communicate and collaborate no matter the time, place or device, with minimal
demand on IT resources. ShoreTel is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has regional
offices and partners worldwide. For more information, visit www.shoretel.com.