TeleMate Case Study

Fort Leonard Wood

• Headquarters: Fort Leonard Wood, MO
• Industry: Department of Defense
• Applications: Telephone Management, Telephone Cost Allocation
• Phone System: Nortel DMS-100

Company Background

Fort Leonard Wood, located in Missouri, trains personnel for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps. In addition to providing basic training for U.S. Army recruits, Fort Leonard Wood is the home of the U.S. Army Engineer School, U.S. Army Military Police School, and U.S. Army Chemical School. The telephone system at Fort Leonard Wood supports the daily activities of more than 8,200 DOD subscribers.

Business Challenge

When Jim Boatman, DOIM Telecommunications Manager for Fort Leonard Wood, implemented a telephone management program, he knew he needed a call accounting solution that was easy-to-use, cost-effective and reliable. Boatman found that TeleMate Call Accounting met all of his needs.

TeleMate Makes it Easy to Monitor for Phone Abuse

Fort Leonard Wood uses TeleMate software to monitor outbound telephone usage and identify telephone abuse and malicious calls. Most useful to Boatman is TeleMate's Extension Detail report, which outlines telephone usage by user, including the numbers called and the length and cost of the calls. After Boatman and his staff review the information, they use TeleMate to e-mail the reports directly to the appropriate organizations for further investigation. The TeleMate software provides exact phone numbers, so investigators know whether calls were personal or official in nature. Equipped with this information, they can take appropriate measures to stop non-official telephone usage.

"Since implementing TeleMate, we've identified several instances of telephone abuse. By investigating these occurrences and taking appropriate action, we've been able to reduce our telephone costs and improve the quality of service for official Department of Defense business," said Jim Boatman, DOIM Telecommunication Manager at Fort Leonard Wood. "Since TeleMate uses a standard Windows format, it was easy to install and learn. I simply followed the on-screen prompts and was able to begin monitoring for abuse almost immediately, right out-of-the box," Boatman added.

Fort Leonard Wood Saves Over $50,000

According to The Guidon, the Fort Leonard Wood newsletter, it costs approximately $1 million per year to keep the phone lines operating at Fort Leonard Wood. With such high costs, it's imperative for Boatman to eliminate the unnecessary costs associated with telephone misuse and to charge-back telephone costs to the appropriate organizations.

"Since implementing TeleMate, we've saved well over $50,000, and the system has more than paid for itself," said Boatman.

Reliable Product and Support

"With so much hype out there, it's refreshing to find a product that actually does what it's marketing literature says it will do -- without a lot of complications. TeleMate is more than just a call accounting system, it's a complete telephone management system," said Boatman. "TeleMate helps me to ensure that our phone lines are used for official business and that our expenses are kept as low as possible," he added.

According to Boatman, "Support is important when you are implementing a telephone management system for over 8,200 users -- you need to know that you can rely on the support department to help you keep things running smoothly. TeleMate.Net's support technicians are educators. The system is very reliable so there's seldom a need for troubleshooting. TeleMate.Net's training personnel have done an excellent job in educating us on the many product features that help us limit abuse and contain telecom costs."