Case Study 1 3

¶ … changing the current system was the fact that it was outdated. It also did not have sufficient capacity to handle Butler's telephony requirements, particularly in terms of customer service and at departments with high call volumes. Although the system had been very reliable, it was also a fact that it was very outdated, particularly in the light of today's rapidly developing communications technology. The Centrex system was for example dependent upon features that were more than a decade old, and that furthermore could not be customized easily. New services that became necessary, such as customer call center services, could not be implemented easily. Moving lines were also a problem, requiring a large amount of trouble. The billing system, having grown to accommodate an increasing amount of users, was also problematic, and the telecom coordinator at Butler had to constantly reconcile the errors inherent in the antiquated system. Despite the remaining advantages of the system, it was concluded that upgrading to a more modern telephone system was required.

The role of the Butler's Information Resources department was to research possible solutions for the university's telecommunications system. The department began its research in 2004. They found a general prediction that an in-house PBX would be less costly than the outsourced Centrex system that Butler was using. For the university, outsourcing held the advantage of being less labor intensive in terms of maintenance and upgrade. The argument for the PBX system was however that Butler would be able to customize it according to their needs. Furthermore, such a system would be able to combine with new technologies such as VoIP, which would further upgrade and increase the efficiency of the telephone system on the campus.

The main role of the IR was therefore to determine the availability of new technology, its costs, and how it could be useful to fill Butler's needs at the greatest efficiency of cost. The IR was also instrumental in proposing specific solutions as revealed by the research findings. In general, IR's main objective was to improve communications between the campus and staff of the university.

The initial role of the vendors was to promote what they believed would be good products to provide solutions to Butler University. Five vendors were selected for their estimated ability to provide the necessary solutions to Butler. The vendors were presented with the solution options provided by IR, and proposed their suggestions and products for handling the problem. Their main role was therefore to provide their best products to match the proposed solutions estimated by Butler's research teams. Finally, the role of the chosen vendor was to supply the products and services to enable the solution technology.

The main objective of the pilot was to test the new VoIP phones and obtain feedback from users on any problems they experience. The pilot included 40 phones issued to high-volume users to test the new system and enable technicians to do final fine-tuning. The pilot was initiated six weeks before implementation in order to ensure that no problems occurred when the whole system was implemented. The pilot program was also used to provide information and training in the use of the new system. The training entails that users were able to interact with the features of the new system in order to become familiar with them. In this way, users learned to use the new system in a safe environment. This provided them with a platform of learning, where such learning took place with as little as possible apprehension.

In general, the pilot program went reasonably well, although some people had considerable trouble understanding telephones that were operated via computers. Others were afraid that the system would crash while being used. Another factor causing fear was the fact that some users felt they would be monitored in a "Big Brother" fashion. The major problems however only began occurring with the final implementation. In this light, the most significant problem connected to the pilot is that it did not reveal any of the problematic factors that caused the breakdowns during full implementation. The pilot therefore failed in its objective to iron out problems and fine-tune the system.

Whether Butler made the right decision to utilize this new technology is a question that must be considered in the light of the initial reasons for implementing it. These reasons were two-fold: the existing system was outdated and labor-intensive. In addition, the projected lower costs of the new system was an attracting factor. After the problems have been addressed and the system repaired, everything began to run smoothly. The system is therefore technologically superior to the original one. It however remains somewhat labor-intensive and also costly. The initial objectives were therefore only partially met. I do however believe that a new system was definitely required to handle the changing needs of the university, its staff and students. It was a necessary change help the university reach its communication goals.