Prudential SourceOne Realty is Chicago’s fastest-growing real estate company. The firm focuses on offering outstanding real estate and homeownership services and uses open source technology whenever possible to meet its business goals. Prudential SourceOne restructured its operations in 2007, giving the firm’s IT department the chance to completely revamp its telephone system.

So long Avaya, Hello Fonality

Prudential SourceOne had previously operated an expensive Avaya phone system, but “we were sick of dealing with Avaya,” said Steve Krzysiak, Prudential SourceOne’s director of IT. “Our old Avaya system was antiquated and it would have required a highly paid phone guru to maintain and revamp it. Our restructuring provided us with a golden opportunity to do our phone system right.”

Prudential SourceOne’s IT staff initiated a search for a new phone system, based on its interest in utilizing open source technologies, which led them directly to Fonality. “The Fonality PBXtra phone system was easier to set up than our network was, and we are network guys!” Krzysiak said. “We can do so much with our Fonality system without having to read a 500-page manual like we had to do with Avaya.”

When Krzysiak deployed Fonality PBXtra in two Chicago-area offices, he found that “integrating the two offices with PBXtra was as simple as a few clicks of the mouse. PBXtra’s four-digit dialing and easy call transfer lets our two offices communicate and work as one.”

Perfect for Road Warriors

Whether showing homes, meeting with sellers or finding new properties to list, Prudential SourceOne’s, more than 70, real estate agents have to conduct business all the time, from anywhere. Krzysiak recalled how poorly suited his former phone system was for a remote workforce: “our old Avaya system wouldn’t allow our agents to set up call forwarding remotely; they could only do it when they were physically in the office, which is not that often. It was terribly inconvenient.”

Missed calls are more then inconvenient as they increase the risk of an agent losing out on a sale and the resulting commission. According to Krzysiak, “with PBXtra, agents can set up Fonality’s Boomerang Mobile Integration feature from anywhere, and it automatically finds them when they aren’t in the office. Or, they can log in from any location with Internet access to check their phone logs.” Prudential SourceOne agents are also especially pleased with Fonality’s voicemail-to-email feature. “Our agents love that PBXtra allows them to forward their voicemail messages directly to their email accounts,” Krzysiak continued. With the old Avaya system, Prudential SourceOne’s agents struggled to confirm telephone numbers left on their voicemail systems. “Our agents really like PBXtra’s ability to conveniently listen to voicemail messages from their email, which allows them to easily re-review a message and ensure they have captured the accurate number. Now, our agents have no concerns about losing a big commission because they missed a number. Fonality PBXtra makes sure of it!”

HUD is the Icing on the Cake

HUD Agent is also finding a home with agents at Prudential SourceOne. “We love HUD! It allows us to quickly see who is on the phone and then simply right click to dial someone directly. The intercom feature has also been great. We no longer have to run across our office to check with someone; we just use HUD’s intercom feature. HUD is going to be a great time saver for us.”

Closing the Deal

Krzysiak is convinced Prudential SourceOne chose the right IP-PBX phone system. “Fonality’s technology is superb, and its engineers are extremely competent. I really feel like I’m talking to a peer when I call. They absolutely know what’s going on.”

Krzysiak’s overall feeling about his Fonality system can be summed up quickly: “It’s simple — Fonality PBXtra makes life easy.” Any regrets about switching from Avaya to Fonality? Nope. “There is no comparison between Fonality and our old Avaya system. Fonality PBXtra is far superior to Avaya.”