An Appia Case Study

The mission of Equip for Equality (EFE) is to advance the human

and civil rights of children and adults with physical and mental disabilities in Illinois.

It is the only statewide, cross-disability, comprehensive advocacy organization

providing selfadvocacy assistance, legal services, and disability rights education

while also engaging in public policy and legislative advocacy and conducting abuse
investigations and other oversight activities.

By implementing a solution from Appia Communications, the agency has been
able to free up resources that it uses to pursue its mission.

Business Challenge

The organization was not happy with its existing phone system and was not
getting the customer service they needed from their service provider. “We were
on an older digital phone system with phone service provided by a major carrier,”
says Hugh Smith, IT Director of EFE, “The cost of the phone system was very
high and the service response for phone outage was not very reliable.”

The Appia Solution

Appia implemented an IP communications system using Cisco 7940 and 7960 IP
phones and equipment, including a Cisco 7935 conference station. The
installation also included a system at one of EFE’s regional offices in Springfield,
Illinois, which allowed them to call between these offices at no cost.

The Results

“The implementation of the Chicago and Springfield offices worked out very well.
Our success was due to Appia's pro-active involvement in the planning stage of
implementing the system,” said Smith, “There have been significant cost savings
of 30-50% for EFE since implementing the Appia system, even with the
expansion of the system for additional staff over the last few years. Also, since
EFE has been on the Appia system, we have found the service to be reliable and
key Appia representatives responsive to our needs.”

The agency was particularly pleased with the scalability of the new system. “The
system was expandable and able to handle the significant staff increase at EFE
of about a 90-100% over the last few years,” said Smith.

Within a year of the original installation, EFE faced another challenge with the
relocation of its Chicago office. Appia was a key member of the move team,
which included EFE staff, the new building owners, representatives from major
telecommunications companies, and the construction/build out company.

“As a result of Appia's very active involvement and generation of creative
approaches in this cooperative team effort, the Appia system was moved to the
new building and up and running for the staff on their first day in the new
building,” Smith added.

The Future

EFE has already begun the process of integrating its two additional regional
offices into their Appia IP network. “We have moved ahead and are currently in
the project installation phase for our second regional office in Carbondale, Illinois,
and are actively working with Appia to plan and install the system,” Smith said
recently. “We are also working with Appia to add a special education hotline to
our system.”

For more information on EFE, please visit: www.equipforequality.org.