Industry: Healthcare
Formed in 1989, Kansas Medical Mutual Insurance Company (KaMMCO) is the state’s largest liability insurer, serving physicians, hospitals, and other health care professionals. Headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, the member-directed company has three branch offices throughout the state and approximately 80 employees.
Challenge
Formed by Kansas physicians, KaMMCO is a trusted insurance provider for approximately 3,700 health care professionals and facilities throughout Kansas and in the greater Kansas City area. However, its aging Nortel communication platform fell short of the company’s reputation, needs, and goals. Employees had to dial 800 numbers to connect with coworkers in any of the company’s four locations and they couldn’t transfer calls, which threatened to impact internal and client satisfaction.
In October 2006, as KaMMCO planned for a major addition to its headquarters, the company decided to upgrade its existing Nortel system to a more advanced Nortel VoIP solution that would allow direct interoffice calling. So when a company executive suggested to Andy Grittman, KaMMCO CIO and vice president of MIS, he meet with Salina, Kansas-headquartered ISG Technology, Inc., to explore a Cisco solution — he was hesitant.
In December 2006, Grittman somewhat reluctantly met with the 143-employee Cisco Premier Certified Partner with eight additional locations in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. “As a happy Nortel client, I was less than thrilled with the prospect of a Cisco telephone system,” explains Grittman. “But in the course of a two-hour meeting with ISG, I opened my mind to the possibility. And over the next several weeks, ISG demonstrated that Cisco was far more than just a telephone system. It’s a foundation that KaMMCO could build on to meet future needs. We signed the contract January 31, 2007.”
Solution
ISG began the five-month implementation in March 2007, installing a robust Cisco network infrastructure including Cisco Catalyst switches and Cisco Integrated Services Routers.
ISG also installed Cisco Unified Communications, a single system that provides powerful new ways to collaborate. To that, ISG added Cisco Unified Communications Manager, an IP telephony call processing system; Cisco Unity, a voice and unified messaging platform; and Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Express, an integrated voice-, video-, and Web-conferencing solution.
To enhance internal and client communication, ISG implemented a Cisco Digital Media System. The comprehensive suite of digital signage, enterprise TV, and desktop video applications allows KaMMCO to quickly and easily connect and collaborate.
ISG secured the infrastructure with Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASAs) that stop attacks before they impact business continuity.
Results
“The Cisco solution has made us a stronger organization across the board.”
Andy Grittman, KaMMCO CIO and vice president of MIS
“The Cisco solution has made us a stronger organization across the board,” says Grittman. “With four-digit dialing and video conferencing, we communicate instantly and more effectively between branches, which has increased productivity by about 20 percent and cut travel by as much as 90 percent.
“We’re also now able to deliver more services to our insureds without raising premiums, which better positions us nationally and globally as a vested partner in health-services delivery versus just another insurance company.
“One of my prerequisites for a new phone system was to be heavily involved in the implementation. While other technology providers might cringe at this, ISG embraced my desire for knowledge and made me an active participant during configuration and installation.
“We now have a reliable, scalable communication foundation to which we can cost-effectively add new technologies as we grow, and we’ll continue to partner with ISG and Cisco along that road.”