The furniture manufacturer Brunstad in Sunnmøre has for years been dependent on daily contact with the factory they own in Estonia. Finally, all the different telecom solutions became a wilderness of systems. –Now we have got control of the situation with Ctelo’s Business Phone solution, says Morten Klakegg, IT manager at Brunstad.
Few things are more important than good channels for meetings, calls, and control for manufacturers who operate in multiple locations. Design chairs are no exception. Microsoft Teams is vital for most of our daily operations This is also at the core of the solution from Ctelo.
"Ctelo’s solutions have enhanced our communication across borders, included external contacts," says Brunstad's IT manager Morten Klakegg.
Years of experience
Every day there are meetings and phone calls between Norwegian Brunstad in Sykkylven and the factory in Raplamaa, just south of Tallinn in Estonia. Currently there are more than twenty people using Ctelo’s Business Phone in Estonia.
"We have been in Estonia for many years, so systems for conferences and collaboration are far from a new experience to us," he says.
Already ten years ago, Brunstad had a so-called Lync server installed, which eventually became Skype for Business. But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Had two choices
Over the years, Brunstad procured several solutions to manage the important daily interaction between the locations because the factory in Estonia is actually controlled from Norway.
" Skype for Business was mainly used as an internal calling system to share screens and meeting rooms. The challenges begun when we were told by our supplier in Estonia that they no longer could deliver traditional lines via copper, which we had depended on so far.
We were told that we had two available options, either use mobile phone or IP telephony in Estonia. We chose the latter but wanted to keep the established numbers. Our customers knew our numbers, so we wanted to keep them," Klakegg says.
Wouldn't release numbers
The Estonian provider could fix this, but this solution implied the loss of another solution on the Lync server. However, a solution was found for a period of time.
"What we were struggling with, and which eventually became a problem, was that the supplier in Estonia would not release the numbers. If it hadn't been for that, we might still kept that solution," says Klakegg.
Made contact with Ctelo
"I wanted the same system in both countries, and a Teams Voice solution. This challenge was addressed to Nortel, the mobile company in Norway. Nortel put us in touch with Ctelo, who thought it was possible to get the number sequence in Estonia in one solution. We had a meeting with Telia Estonia and Ctelo. Suddenly all the pieces came together. The solution was up and running right away," says Klakegg satisfied.
"We addressed the Estonian supplier with the same challenge. It seemed like they were not aware of the existing possibilities, and their solution was not competitive," says Klakegg.
Brilliant
One of the pillars of Ctelos Business Phone solution is Microsoft Teams, the successor to Skype for Business, which suited Brunstad very well. They'd been doing this for a long time.
"The fact that we use Teams is perhaps a result of it becoming an industry standard today. A big percentage of the companies in the world use Teams. That's at least my opinion, so the choice was evident. Then came Ctelo, who can stitch together IP trunks from all over the world and bake it into Teams. It's brilliant," Klakegg said.
FACTS: Brunstad AS
· The company has approximately 100 employees and had a turnover of NOK 126 million in 2020.
· Established in 1941, it produces furniture both in Sykkylven and at the factory in Estonia.
· Both Brunstad and a national brand, Violante are produced in Estonia.
· The products are chairs and sofas, and they are proud of their high quality and good design.