Businesses don’t come much more dynamic than Millennium Training Institute, a growing multi-site IT training provider in Massachusetts that frequently sets up temporary locations throughout the state to meet its client’s needs. The Institute’s counselors and teachers travel between training sites, the head office in Woburn and client sites as required.

“Right now, for example, we’re doing training in Fall River, Yarmouth and Taunton,” explains Ralph Laundry, the Institute’s director and general manager. “These locations are set up for particular customers at their sites. When it’s finished, we fold up the classroom and move to another site. Other times we set up our own temporary locations – from four months to a year, depending on enrollment.”

When Laundry recently sought out a phone system for the new Boston office, his solution provider, Atlantic Telephone, introduced him to the Mitel Networks Small Business Solution that now provides Millennium’s new Voice-over-IP (VoIP) communication network. It is comprised of a Mitel Networks 3100 Integrated Communications Platform (ICP) providing voice and data services between all locations, and the Mitel Networks 6010 Teleworker Solution for the institute’s varied remote access needs.

“Before,” Laundry laughs, “we had a Norstar system in Woburn and just phone lines in the Cambridge office. There were no links between locations at all.We couldn’t transfer callers between locations and it didn’t make us look global. Image is everything in business. If you look professional and sound professional, people will say good things about you.”

The 6010 Teleworker Solution is a key component in the institute’s improved communication infrastructure, enabling a single, unified public image and eliminating long distance toll charges between locations. Laundry explains, “We put a teleworker phone in any location to provide access to the office at any time. When someone calls our 1-800 number, it’s easy to transfer them to an extension in any other location.”

Prior to this, Millennium had difficulty efficiently routing incoming calls. “A counselor or trainer who might spend a day or two per week in another location would have to give out two numbers. Messages often were left in the wrong place – you can lose business that way. Now, we give out just one number to be accessible no matter where we are. We can direct calls easily between locations and our staff get e-mail and phone access from anywhere – the customer has no idea if someone’s not in the office.”

Staff like Laundry can also take the teleworker phone home. “It’s nice to just pick up the phone at home and get my messages, or for calls to come through as if I’m in the office. It’s very professional, too – people don’t feel like they are bothering you at home.”

Overall, Laundry says, the Atlantic Telephone solution “has exceeded my expectations.” Even small details make a big difference, such as the system’s presence information. “When I come in and logon in the morning,” Laundry explains, “my phone extension lights up across the network and people start calling because they know I’m available. That’s really convenient. With the Mitel Networks Solution, we communicate more now with our other schools than we did without it.”