Case Study Workman Publishing

About Workman Publishing

Founded in 1968, Workman Publishing, one of the largest independent publishers, offers titles that are fun (1,000 Places to See Before You Die), helpful (What to Expect When You're Expecting), and informative (Brain Quest). They publish non-fiction adult and children’s books along with calendars, stationery, and puzzles. Workman imprints include Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Algonquin Young Readers, Artisan, Storey Publishing, Timber Press, and Workman Audio. Products are available online and through a variety of book stores and retail outlets.

The Business Communication Challenge: Having the Tools to Work Remotely

Similar to many organizations in the past, Workman Publishing’s incoming calls were formerly managed by live receptionists and later on routed to dedicated lines. Workman Publishing had been using an old POTS system, which met their initial needs in terms of communication quality. However, this system was expensive (a whopping $6,000/month) and had its limitations. Simply moving to an automated operator was not an option. Scalability also became a challenge when using the existing platform. Onboarding any new employee would have Workman Publishing browsing eBay for extra devices—not ideal at all!

Another top priority was the customer experience. CIO, Dan Levy, needed a business phone system that enabled him and his team to foster positive interactions for anyone calling into Workman Publishing through a variety of communication channels.

The Solution: An Agile Communication System with Plenty of Flexibility and a Great Customer Experience

net2phone developed a solution that allowed Workman Publishing to cut their costs in half and adopt new features simultaneously, such as our integration with Microsoft Teams. In addition to the lower costs and enhanced functionality, a fully hosted PBX solution allowed for the Workman Publishing team to work remotely. This would serve as a huge benefit to the entire organization when navigating through the COVID-19 Pandemic. Enabling employees to work from home or from the office would become a game-changer to the organization, simply setting up access to their entire phone system through their work laptops.

With net2phone, Workman Publishing was able to power over 200 employees by direct dial or extension ring on their computers and/or phones as needed. net2phone’s unique ability to not only eliminate unnecessary costs but to integrate natively with Microsoft Teams helped drive user adoption quickly since the user interface was nothing foreign. Whether they made calls on Teams or externally, the system shared the exact same functions.

Additionally, the net2phone team took it a step further by creating an individualized approach and provided a dedicated Customer Success account manager to ensure their needs were met at every stage, from onboarding the first 5 users to all 200+ employees overtime. The net2phone Customer Success department serves as a team dedicated to customer advocacy. Their sole focus is providing Workman Publishing with first-class support, recommendations about using the system, and the opportunity to provide suggestions or feedback on upcoming feature releases or enhancements.