Case Study: Boosting broadband for a growing franchise

Worldwide Online Printing offers customers throughout Australia the most advanced design and printing service in the world. Their franchised retail outlets provide in-store, fast, tailored graphic design services complemented by cost-effective printing supplied from four factory sites. They are one of Australia’s hottest franchise systems, named in BRW’s fastest growing franchise list in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Underlying this national success story is a broadband network that has helped improve the company’s business operations. National IT Manager, Jeff Weihs, has maximised their potential by linking their Australia-wide operations with a cost-effective, reliable and fast communications solution from Pacnet .

The Problem

Maintaining a secure, always-on broadband network had been a persistent headache for the company. Many of the franchisees had been using residential Internet services and had been receiving poor customer service, had unreliable hardware which received little or no maintenance and had to contend with unforeseen service outages.

“We needed one service provider who could provide a secure, managed network over a large geographical area. Our business depends on providing high-end printing quickly and affordably. We do this by transferring large graphics files from store to factory via our serviced retail outlets and producing all printing at a central location. This model requires reliable broadband connections that can handle large data volumes, high bandwidth speeds and guaranteed service level agreements,” Jeff said.

The Solution

History with the franchise industry was a key reason for Worldwide Online Printing to choose Pacnet.

Jeff Weihs said, “Pacnet’s staff understand the specific and unique needs of a franchise system. Pacnet recognises that high quality and reliability is not just desirable for a franchise system, but absolutely necessary. Their transparent, equitable billing for each of our stores means each franchisee can see exactly what they’re paying for, while also gaining from the considerable economies of scale our franchised network offers.”

Pacnet spent time working with Worldwide Online Printing to understand the business’ unique complexities. They project managed the implementation of a company-wide private network, including installation of new lines, DSL tails, managed hardware and remote access to existing services, all without disrupting the existing network.

The solution also included integration of telephone and broadband DSL services onto one system. In the unlikely event the DSL service goes down, the network seamlessly transfers to a dialup system. Pacnet’s solution is also readily scalable for future growth.

From start to finish, Pacnet completed the Australia-wide roll-out for Worldwide Online Printing in less than four months.

The Benefits

What makes Pacnet’s solutions unique is twofold: firstly their comprehensive understanding of the franchise connectivity needs and business model; secondly their business-grade service offering. And, like their understanding of the franchise industry, it’s not one person in the company who understands, it’s the whole package. Pacnet use commercial-grade hardware and equipment, their staff are CISCO-qualified and their customer service team aims to solve problems first time, every time.

Pacnet also has a strong reputation for providing end to end quality of service on the network. Worldwide Online Printing has taken advantage of Pacnet’s ability to monitor and manage the entire network, removing the headache of maintaining its own trained IT department.

“Our franchisees have online, real-time feedback between the factory and the retail outlet so they know the exact status of every job. What’s more, they have reliable access to core business systems that making quoting a job, uploading the files and tracking a job’s status easy and efficient.

The customer ends up with faster job turnaround times and improved customer service – all at a better price,” explained Mark Manderson.