Malaysian Marketing Consultancy goes regional with Cisco
ConvergenceAsia staff
23/07/2007

Malaysian Marketing Consultancy firm In2 Marketing & Consulting is using Cisco's voice and Internet Protocol (IP) communication solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to drive its regional expansion plans.

Established in July 2002 as a team of four, In2 has since grown to a staff strength of 35 with a regional office in Singapore.

To fulfill the needs of its fast-growing business, the company needed a data and voice network system which offered high mobility but at the same time would not compromise on security, said Lynette Yap, brand communications director of In2.

In2 deployed a total solution that combined 35 Cisco Unified IP Phones, Cisco routers, and the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express. A converter was added to enable the running of IP communications on analogue phones for a further 15 users, allowing In2 to provision up to 50 users.

Prior to this, In2 was using a digital keyphone system, which could not support the increasing number of users as the company grew.

"Cisco gave us the best customised solution for our requirements, and we have already started to see the benefits," said Yap.

Integrated communications has allowed In2 to significantly change the working style of the entire organisation, not only at the highest level of management but also across the board. As a result, In2 has been able to streamline its operations and simplify management, maintenance and training as well as increase efficiency, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership.

IP-based technologies offer two distinct key advantages. First, they help lower operational costs by reducing the number of networks and services that companies need to maintain. Second, since voice, video and data can run over IP networks, they can also be as combined and run much more cost-effectively than with previous technologies.

"We are satisfied with the performance of the solution, which has also contributed to significant cost-savings. With Cisco's solution we have the flexibility to add capacity as and when we need it," added Yap.

Cisco IP telephony products are a key component of the Cisco Unified Communications system, which delivers the business benefits of a converged network to organisations of all sizes. With Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express and Cisco Unity Express, the benefits of IP communications can be easily extended to small or medium-sized office environments. This solution serves offices of 240 users or fewer and enables a robust set of commonly used business telephony features, voice mail, and automated-attendant capabilities.

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