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MBM Computer System Solutions, a Michigan-based Managed Services Provider for SMB clients in various sectors, prides itself on providing end-to-end IT services. The company's reputation is built on its ability to ensure uptime for businesses while helping them run as efficiently as possible. However, to maintain this level of service, MBM needed a solution that offered robust IT security and central management capabilities. The company was also looking for a solution that would allow them to build a recurring revenue model. The challenge was to find a comprehensive solution that could keep pace with ongoing business needs and the constantly shifting security threats. Furthermore, the solution needed to provide MBM with total control over their clients’ IT systems, including control of licensing and renewal of customer’s products.

Erdinger Weißbräu, a leading private brewery in Germany, faced a significant challenge in managing its complex IT structure while maintaining its traditional brewing methods. The brewery, which produces 1.5 million hectoliters of wheat beer annually and exports to over 70 countries, required an efficient and easily manageable security environment for its operations. The brewery's development was heading towards the internet, necessitating a robust security solution. The brewery also needed to separate its internal networks, such as the production network from the sales area, to ensure the security of its trade secrets and protect against disruptive attacks. The brewery considered various market leaders, including Cisco and Check Point, and concluded that Check Point was more user-friendly and easier to handle.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., one of the largest container-shipping companies in the world, faced a significant challenge in maintaining information security while providing high-performance network access to its globally dispersed workforce. With over 3,000 employees spread across approximately 200 sites worldwide, the company needed a solution that could ensure secure access to network resources, even from less reputable sites. The company's operations were supported by three regional data centers in Haifa, Hong Kong, and Norfolk, Va., and its remote users utilized a variety of network services, including FTP, email synchronization, and remote desktop via Citrix. The geographical dispersion of the company's operations added another layer of complexity, as Zim needed a centralized view of its security solution across its widespread gateways.

Manfrotto Group, a global leader in the creation, production, and distribution of professional support systems for the photography, video, and entertainment industries, faced a significant challenge in securing VPN access to their centralized data centers. The company's information systems were consolidated in Bassano del Grappa, where the main data center was equipped with approximately 50 servers. This architecture allowed all the business units within each brand to connect to a centralized data center to access administrative and financial systems. However, as the company grew, so did the demand for secure remote access to corporate resources. More than 25% of the employees in Italy were considered mobile users, and the trend was quickly catching on throughout the branch offices. The company needed a solution that could be centrally managed out of the data center while securing the new access to information and corporate resources for which users were asking.

Telecom Plus plc, a major British company and a leading provider of Internet and landline telecom, and gas and electric utility services in the UK, faced a significant challenge. The company's Utility Warehouse Discount Club needed a network that was completely safe from the threat posed by removable media devices. Many employees at Telecom Plus’ North London headquarters spent a large amount of time ‘hot-desking’ around the office as well as working remotely. This necessitated the use of removable USB devices to carry around large quantities of data. The challenge for the IT department was to ensure that the workforce was as flexible as possible without risking the security of the network, or the threat of data theft through USB flash drives and other removable media devices. A blanket ban on removable media devices would limit the company’s workforce flexibility, and create an air of distrust among employees. The only solution was to control the use of removable media devices and have total visibility of data coming in and out of the network.

TaskRabbit, an online and mobile marketplace that matches freelance labor with local demand, was looking to expand its operations beyond the US, with London being its first international location. The challenge was to extend TaskRabbit's existing Twilio text and VoIP phone communication capabilities to its new location in London, England. The company had to ensure that the transition of its digital infrastructure overseas was smooth and that handling SMS and phone calls remained hassle-free. Furthermore, TaskRabbit had to adjust their communication style to cater to the subtle differences between London and its US cities. This ranged from making small language tweaks on the website to toning down the marketing language for a less enthusiastic and slightly more skeptical audience.

Tree.com, a marketplace that aids consumers in comparing financial products and real estate, was facing a significant challenge. As a rapidly growing business, they required a call tracking solution that was both scalable and cost-effective. The demand in such a fast-paced business environment can be unpredictable, and Tree.com needed a solution that could grow in real time with their business. They were also looking for a cost model that directly aligned with their usage, meaning they would only pay for the resources they actually used. The challenge was to find a solution that could meet these requirements and support the tens of thousands of numbers required by Tree.com's high growth businesses.

Uber, a global network of everyday and luxury cars, was facing a challenge in keeping its riders up-to-date on the status of their driver request. Despite having a text communication strategy in place, the quality of customer experience was not up to Uber's standards due to issues with its existing hosting providers. The fast delivery of notifications was critical as customer transactions happened in real time. A delay in text message delivery of more than a minute could leave a customer waiting for a ride they didn't know was cancelled or unaware that their ride had arrived. Uber needed a reliable solution to deliver the level of communication its service demanded.

Better Voice, a provider of customizable voicemail and phone services, faced the challenge of integrating voicemail services with multiple platforms and making them accessible via mobile. The company's primary clientele, real estate agents, required an efficient and flexible voicemail system that could handle incoming calls with voice, SMS, and email messages. The information from these calls needed to be automatically extracted, integrated with existing CRM and other systems, and prioritized for response. The challenge was to build a customizable, complete voicemail system that could meet these needs.

iCracked, a smart device repair and reselling network, faced a significant challenge in providing a high-quality and responsive customer service experience for its users. The company initially listed hundreds of its technicians' personal phone numbers on its website, which proved to be highly inefficient and frustrating for customers who had to cold call down the list to find an available technician. iCracked then turned to a virtual phone system offering, which lacked the APIs for building advanced automation capabilities. Without call tracking and recording, it was difficult to monitor customer interactions and virtually impossible to guarantee service. The communications platform in place also failed to scale with iCracked, resulting in poor call quality and dropped calls. iCracked needed a powerful and flexible communications platform that would enable the company to easily integrate advanced communications features into its business processes.

Magna Mysteria, a theatre production company, was faced with the challenge of incorporating reliable SMS into a fast-paced, innovative, and interactive theatrical performance. The company wanted to explore the impact of technology on society and create a truly immersive theatre experience. The traditional theatre environment often discourages the use of mobile phones, but Magna Mysteria wanted to break this norm and integrate mobile usage into their performances. The company aimed to make the audience participants in the show through augmented reality and other pervasive technologies. However, they needed a solution that could seamlessly weave in the audience's personal details into the plot and direct them around venues using SMS and voice calls.

MongoDB, a leading NoSQL database provider, was faced with the challenge of integrating two-factor authentication into its Java-based web application. The company wanted to extend its database monitoring service to include backup and restore capabilities, which required a secure, two-factor authentication solution to authorize the handling of user data. The company needed a solution that was easy to implement, easy to integrate, and reliable for their Java-based application. The challenge was to ensure that only authorized users would be allowed to perform operations that could result in loss or exposure of mission-critical data.

PayByPhone, a leading provider of mobile payments to the parking industry, was faced with the challenge of providing timely account notifications to customers about when their parking meters were about to expire. The company initially used an IVR-based payment method to handle account set-up, transactions, and confirmation of meter location and time needed. SMS reminders also started out this way. Five minutes before the parking expired, a user would get a text message, after which they could call back in via the PayByPhone system to extend their time. However, this approach required integration with multiple SMS suppliers using SMPP protocol and direct management of these relationships. This was a complex, time-consuming, and expensive endeavor. SMS is an incredibly effective delivery mechanism, but PayByPhone needed a more cost-effective, efficient solution.

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system affecting around six million people today, with projections indicating a rise to almost 10 million by 2030. The Parkinson's Voice Initiative, a team of mathematicians and clinicians, aimed to develop a low-cost test to identify patients with Parkinson's symptoms using voice recordings. The challenge was to accurately record phone calls from around the world, analyze the voice fluctuations, tremors, and other symptoms, and compare them against sample sets of both Parkinson's sufferers and healthy individuals. The team needed a robust solution that could handle large volumes of call data and ensure a high level of accuracy.

Remind, a web and mobile application, was faced with the challenge of facilitating clearer and more consistent communication between teachers, students, and parents. The founders, David and Brett Kopf, had a vision to create a simple way for educators to connect with their students and parents using technology and facilities available to the widest audience. The challenge was to keep students and parents updated about assignments, due dates, and quizzes. The founders realized that students can sometimes be unreliable when it comes to educational discipline and parents often feel in the dark when students fail to deliver notes from teachers and big assignments come as a surprise to them.

Root Experience, a UK-based theatre company, was faced with the challenge of creating a dynamic and interactive theatre experience that could break the 'fourth wall' between the cast and their audiences. The company wanted to leverage the recent surge in popularity of interactive theatre and explore new mediums to enhance audience engagement. Their latest production, The Rise And Fall Of Geo Goynes, was an urban treasure conspiracy story dealing with themes around surveillance, privacy, espionage, and deception. The challenge was to automatically send custom voice calls to audience members, making them active participants in the show. The company needed a solution that could seamlessly integrate with the performance and provide a unique, immersive experience for the audience.

The challenge was to find a simple, secure, and efficient way for guests to access rental properties via their phone. The traditional method of physical keys posed several problems. For instance, the risk of losing keys, the inconvenience of getting another key cut or calling out a locksmith, and the security implications of lost keys. Furthermore, the property owners had to be present to hand over the keys to the guests, which was not always feasible, especially for short-term rentals. The need was for a solution that would eliminate the need for physical keys and allow guests to access the properties without the owner's presence.

SpareFoot, a listings marketplace for self-storage units, faced the challenge of making it easier for people to find and connect with relevant self-storage facilities in their area. The self-storage industry was traditionally low-tech, with facilities relying on offline advertising methods such as Yellow Pages, billboards, and word-of-mouth to attract customers. On the other hand, customers were increasingly turning to online search engines and social networks to find storage solutions. This left storage facility owners competing with big-budget marketing firms to secure customers online. In 2009, some of the more forward-thinking storage facilities recognized the need for a better way to do business and turned to SpareFoot for help.

The self-storage industry was grappling with outdated lead generation methods, such as Yellow Pages listings, which were not only expensive but also difficult to measure in terms of effectiveness. The industry heavily relied on phone calls, accounting for 90% of their leads, but a majority of these did not convert into reservations. Without concrete data to manage the lifecycle of leads, self-storage companies were left to make educated guesses to maximize their marketing ROI. This was particularly challenging for independent operators who needed a data-driven approach to track leads from the initial phone call to the final move-in.

Strategic Growth, a Salesforce consulting service, was faced with the challenge of integrating their customers' Salesforce.com instances with voice services. One of their customers, a social media marketing company, was particularly dissatisfied with their existing voice provider due to its high cost of over $30,000 per year and lack of flexibility to integrate with their prospecting process. The customer was also paying for services they were unlikely to use. The customer needed a solution that would allow them to make thousands of calls each day to and from more than 500 area codes, and automatically route return calls from prospective clients to the salesperson who had contacted them. This was crucial as calls from local phone numbers were 50% more likely to be answered, and the personal touch of having the same salesperson handle the return call was important for their marketing strategy.

Talkdesk, a company co-founded by Tiago Paiva and Cristina Fonseca, was faced with the challenge of developing a complete call center cloud solution. The existing call center solutions in Portugal, where Paiva had personal experience, were expensive and time-consuming to manage. The idea of a cloud-based alternative evolved in his mind, and the opportunity to participate in a Twilio contest gave him a means to make it a reality. The objectives for their service were straightforward: use web browsers as the only user interface, make it simple to set up a call center, make it easy to send and receive calls, support the product in the cloud, and make it affordable. Despite being predisposed to Twilio through the contest and Twilio Fund, the Talkdesk team researched other alternative services.

Avvo, an online marketplace that connects people who need legal services with qualified lawyers, faced a significant challenge. The company needed to quantify the Return on Investment (ROI) benefit lawyers receive from listing their services on Avvo's marketplace. The challenge was to justify the cost of a premium listing. Avvo needed a way to show attorneys quantitative data about how many calls their website listings were generating. While listing an attorney's pre-existing telephone numbers gave consumers a way to reach the lawyers, Avvo had no way to track the calls passed through those numbers. Without a trackable number, Avvo had no way to measure the leads they send to their clients, and they could only provide a best guess to their impact on their business.

Balihoo, a cloud-based marketing platform, was faced with the challenge of helping companies measure marketing ROI in global campaigns more effectively. The failure to connect with local markets was costing American businesses as much as $50 billion a year. National brands were struggling to make an impact with local advertising, with only 7% of nearly 300 brand marketing executives stating they offered effective campaigns to activate local consumers. Balihoo's mission was to make brand advertising more effective by automating local marketing campaigns. A key part of this was to offer brands local phone numbers in any geography, along with the ability to do call tracking, which would make it possible to determine if calls to those numbers turned into sales.

CallTrackingMetrics, a company that helps businesses and advertising agencies track the sources most likely to convert, faced a significant challenge. They needed to determine the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, lead conversions, and ROI in real-time. The quality of service was a critical factor in their business, as phone sales remained highly relevant despite the increased focus on digital sales. However, setting up reliable call tracking was a complex and expensive task. Most existing solutions were part of larger marketing packages that not all clients needed. Furthermore, the company faced quality issues with their initial platform, including grainy phone conversations and unexplained outages. These issues were detrimental to their clients, as dropped or incomprehensible calls forced them to resort to other communication channels with significantly lower conversion rates.

Datalot, a company that develops pay-per-call advertising solutions, was facing a significant challenge in improving response times for internet leads to increase sales. The online lead generation industry was plagued with costly inefficiencies, making it difficult to convert someone who clicked on an online ad into a paying customer. The average time it took companies to respond to online leads was 42 hours, and 23% of companies never responded at all. The existing web-to-call infrastructure was a patchwork of separate processes and technologies that did not communicate with each other, leading to a loss of valuable information about the lead and a delay in response times. This resulted in sales reps being overwhelmed with too many leads or having too few to work with.

eHarmony, an online dating site, was faced with the challenge of enabling its users to connect over the phone while keeping their personal phone numbers anonymous. The company had previously introduced a private calling solution, but it was found to be difficult to use by subscribers. Users had to initiate phone calls to their matches using their computers, a process that was deemed cumbersome. eHarmony was therefore tasked with finding a calling solution that would provide a better customer experience, while maintaining the privacy and security of its users.

Experience, a technology platform that personalizes live event experiences for attendees, faced a significant challenge. The company wanted to allow customers to make purchases via text message, but integrating this feature without overburdening their development team was a daunting task. Experience's mobile application offered sports teams, venues, and live event promoters the ability to enhance a fan's experience by offering unique rewards. However, these offers could only be delivered through a mobile website, and fans who wanted to upgrade their seats had to navigate through the team's website on their mobile browsers, find the seat upgrades they wanted, and pay for them. Experience knew that text messaging would greatly enhance this offering, but they also needed a short code for high-volume text-messaging applications, a process they knew to be burdensome.

GameChanger Media, a company that creates software to keep amateur sports fans updated about their favorite teams, was in need of a reliable and scalable communications platform. The platform needed to deliver personalized real-time news updates about amateur sporting events to subscribers anywhere in the world. The challenge was to find a solution that could handle the escalating number of SMS alerts, and provide a seamless experience for the users. The company had tried several SMS providers but none met their requirements for competitive pricing, powerful API, and high reliability.

PagerDuty, an incident management platform for IT operations and devops teams, was faced with the challenge of making IT alerts reliable and simple to use. Traditional alerting systems were either complex, capital-intensive enterprise projects or unreliable, jury-rigged hacks that were as likely to fail themselves as the systems they monitored. The founders of PagerDuty, Alex Solomon, Andrew Miklas, and Baskar Puvanasathan, aimed to create an alerting system that was not only highly reliable but also simple and accessible. They envisioned a cloud-based service that could aggregate incidents from multiple IT monitoring systems.

The Philadelphia Police Department, one of the oldest and most forward-thinking municipal agencies in the nation, was faced with the challenge of enabling more citizens to anonymously report minor crimes and nuisance behavior using SMS messages. The goal was to free up dispatchers to focus on emergencies. The department recognized that for many people, text messages are the preferred method of communication. They wanted to make it possible for people to send anonymous tips from their cell phones to help solve crimes. However, bridging the phone and internet was a difficult task. The department also needed a solution that would allow them to respond securely to the sender in case of an emergency, while maintaining the anonymity of the caller.