MARKETVISIONS

GO-TO-MARKET
PROGRAM CASE STUDY

EATEL QUICKLY LAUNCHES BUSINESS HOSTED VOICE THROUGH THE

METASWITCH MARKETVISIONS GO-TO-MARKET PROGRAM
INTRODUCTION

MOVING FORWARD

EATEL, based in Gonzales, Louisiana, has grown over the years from
its roots as a small, independent Telco founded nearly 80 years ago,
to a modern communications company offering advanced services
to business and residential customers. EATEL has made several
acquisitions over the past several years, including Vision, another
independent phone company, and Venyu, a cloud services
company providing managed hosting, virtualization, and data
protection solutions.

EATEL knew where it wanted to go. Launching a Hosted PBX offer

was a logical first step in moving the portfolio forward. Hosted PBX
can provide excellent margins (60-80% are not uncommon), has a
receptive marketplace (a large percentage of businesses surveyed
prefer it over a premises based PBX), and is a good fit with the rest
of its product portfolio.

EATELs operations mirror those of many service providers: it is the

incumbent, local telephone company in Ascension and Lafourche
Parishes, and it also provides business services as a competitive local
exchange carrier (CLEC) in Baton Rouge, LA. As a CLEC, it uses both
fiber assets and UNEs to deliver services. Until recently, its product
portfolio mostly targeted small business with trunking and dedicated
Internet access services.
Like a lot of other independents, EATEL was seeking new revenue
streams. A key part of its strategy to grow revenues is augmenting
its business product portfolio beyond services like business lines
and Internet access, which have become increasingly commoditized.
Like many service providers, EATEL finds itself now competing with
over-the-top providers, MSOs, other CLECs, ILECs, and VARs in the
business market. EATEL knew that expanding its product portfolio and
competing aggressively would be critical for its future success.

WE KNEW WE HAD TO DO IT RIGHT

THE FIRST TIME.
HEATHER HEWITT
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER AT EATEL

WWW.METASWITCH.COM

As a long time Metaswitch customer, EATEL had the technical

capabilities and product platform; however, Hosted PBX can be a
complex solution to implement, with many customer touch points,
internal handoffs, and potential system impacts. EATEL wanted an
expert resource to help launch a Hosted PBX product quickly
and efficiently.
We had a number of customers asking for the product, and we knew
our competition was readying their efforts, claims Heather Hewitt,
Product Marketing Manager at EATEL. We knew we had to do it right
the first time.
Metaswitchs MarketVisions Go-To-Market program was there to help
and bring a team together to assist EATEL with its goals.

THE IMPLEMENTATION
The project to launch Hosted PBX was broken into two phases:
In Phase 1, Metaswitchs Go-To-Market experts conducted
an assessment of EATELs internal capabilities and target
markets. The team interviewed key stakeholders from a
number of functional areas of the business, analyzed the
market and competitive environment, built a business case
for the new product, and recommended a go-forward
strategy for launching the product.
In Phase 2, the joint EATEL/Metaswitch team implemented the
recommendations of Phase 1. A complete Go-To-Market plan
was developed and implemented, including offer structure,
operations, systems, marketing and sales.

2014 METASWITCH NETWORKS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Phase 1 took about two weeks, followed by a face-to-face read-out

with EATELs executive team. The Go-To-Market team presented a
forthright assessment of EATELs capabilities with gaps that would
need to be addressed in Phase 2. A detailed competitive landscape
was presented, including product packaging, promotional offers, and
price points. The business case tool that was developed allowed
EATEL to perform sensitivity analyses to evaluate the impact of
various price points on both profitability and revenue. Finally, the team
developed a project plan that detailed the steps necessary for EATEL
to have a Hosted PBX product in market in 3 months.
Upon approval of Phase 1 findings, the project moved into Phase 2.
Some of the key items implemented in Phase 2 were:
A pricing and packaging scheme. Paired with EATELs
regional market knowledge, the Metaswitch Go-To- Market
team assisted in designing an offer that was simple and easy
for customers to understand. This also made it easier for sales
to position the product, and easier for operations to implement.
Equipment. A standard configuration was developed including
IP phones, switches, and routers.
Development of an end-to-end process flow. Since selling
and implementing Hosted PBX can be a complex process,
much rigor was put into process flow. The Go-To-Market team
worked with EATEL to determine the optimal process for its
company and staff, making trade-offs when necessary to favor
speed-to-market versus full automation.
New process documentation and methods and procedures.
Along with optimizing the process flow, the Go-To-Market team
worked with EATEL to develop all of the forms used to gather
information and track activities from customer contact, through
installation, and Day 2 support.

Marketing and customer-facing materials. The joint

EATEL/Metaswitch team developed a complete set of
documentation including sales collateral, user guides, and
web content. In addition, custom-branded tutorial videos and
an interactive product demo were developed.
Sales Training. The Go-To-Market team developed and
delivered training to the EATEL sales team that included
an assessment of the market and likely customers, product
positioning, and offer details.
Project management. All along, the Go-To-Market team
managed the entire initiative, keeping it on track for an
on-schedule completion.

THE RESULTS
In a few short months, EATEL had a new product in market and was
actively and successfully selling to prospects. We really liked the
process-driven approach to getting Hosted Voice quickly into market,
says Hewitt. MarketVisions Go-To-Market brought a tremendous
amount of expertise and capabilities to help us be successful.

MARKETVISIONS GO-TO-MARKET
BROUGHT A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT
OF EXPERTISE AND CAPABILITIES TO
HELP US BE SUCCESSFUL.
HEATHER HEWITT
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER AT EATEL

METASWITCH HELPED EATEL BUILD ITS CUSTOMER AND MARKETING DOCUMENTATION

WWW.METASWITCH.COM

2014 METASWITCH NETWORKS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.