George P. Johnson Company
It was an uncomfortable moment. The prospective client, the George P. Johnson Company, had assembled representatives from competing integrators to discuss a proposed IP Telephony project for its headquarters and make their respective pitches. Logicalis account manager Rick Hickman, IP Communications Director Ron Temske, and their technology team were there for Logicalis. Hickman recalls that the first two integrators asked only very cursory questions about the nature of the project. More than 40 minutes after Logicalis got its turn at the podium, its technologists were still asking questions. As a result of its tenacious diligence, Logicalis earned the project, or, as Hickman says, "We blew the other guys away."GPJ Vice President, Information Technology Worldwide, Brian Bartkowiak, was there that day and he agrees. "Logicalis has always been very thorough," he says. "It was obvious that they had the experience and understanding of what needed to be done. Logicalis is not always the lowest price, but they put a lot of extra value in their solutions that you don't get from other integrators. They are experts and reduced our project risk. It was also an advantage that Logicalis is national and has the capability for global reach. They were a very good fit."
The George P. Johnson Company was originally founded in 1914 as a flag and decoration company and evolved into a leading integrated event marketing resource for major brands with a number of long-term partnerships with many of the world's leading companies including Cisco, IBM, and Daimler Chrysler.
Solving problems
Like many companies, GPJ was at an infrastructure crossroads and had decided to replace an aging PBX system with IP Telephony. Logicalis Account Managers Hickman and Gary Carlson worked together to cover all aspects of the project. Making the switch over to IPT, Bartkowiak notes, required an understanding not just of IP Telephony, but also of PBX. During the installation at GPJ headquarters, for example, Logicalis technicians had to solve problems that stemmed from the telecom provider of the system they were replacing, and they still went live on time. Logicalis has since gone on to assist GPJ with telecommunication upgrades in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"Communication in all forms is extremely critical for our company," Bartkowiak says. "We're a very project-based organization and have all sorts of project meetings, and project status calls with clients and vendors." GPJ, as a result, has very strict standards for project management and, Bartkowiak says, Logicalis consistently exceeded them.
Of the Cisco applications Logicalis installed, Bartkowiak is particularly pleased with MeetingPlace. "We had an outside system before and now we're able to manage MeetingPlace in house. From a cost savings standpoint, there is a big benefit there."
Bartkowiak likes more than just the new technology. "Logicalis trains our people so that we are able to take on more of the work with each successive installation, and this allows us to reduce the cost of consulting services. They know that what's good for us is, ultimately, good for them. That is a key differentiator."
