Faced with crippling network reliability and redundancy issues, SD-WAN Concierge™ and a strong partnership with Windstream Enterprise arrived just in time for the nationwide logistics and delivery company, Beavex.
Network dependent
Network reliability is critical for most businesses, but in the delivery and logistics industry, 100% uptime is essential for success. Based in Atlanta, GA, Beavex Incorporated is a nationwide logistics and delivery services business operating 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, 365 days-a-year. Started in 1989 as a small regional courier servicing the banking industry, today Beavex is a leading provider of time-critical, sameday transportation and logistics services for the financial, healthcare, manufacturing, industrial and retail industries that:
- Facilitates the delivery of 40% of the nation’s checks every night;
- Arranges for 12M annual deliveries for the country’s largest pharmaceutical distributors; and
- Provides same-day access to more than 77%, and next-day access to 97% of the U.S. population.
The delivery business is both complex and competitive with many companies, from international carriers to small, local courier-type businesses, offering to provide similar services to customers.
Within this crowded space, Beavex seeks to differentiate itself by targeting home-based businesses and others that need final-mile, courier-type services with exceptional reliability. From time-sensitive prescription drugs and water samples to distribution for a major U.S. paint company and electric scooters, Beavex applies the same discriminating level of quality and care regardless of customer size, product or industry.
When network failures became a frequent occurrence for the company and adding bandwidth was cost-prohibitive, Beavex sought a technology partner that could deliver forward-looking solutions to address current and future business challenges, and that was as invested in their success as they were.
“Frequent outages were negatively affecting our ability to meet customers’ expectations, and Beavex needed a solution that would help it become the preferred provider for our target customers who don’t fit the ‘cookie-cutter’ model served by other providers.”
- Tim Stanley, Vice President of Information Technology
An undeliverable network
With more than 80 offices and terminal locations to support, the network was underperforming and far too complex to manage effectively. Moreover, Beavex was using multiple providers, none of which could keep up with demand, provide network performance visibility or deliver a solution that would ensure the reliability and redundancy they required to meet their high standards.
Tim Stanley, Beavex’s vice president of information technology, had recently joined the company and was immediately charged with urgently solving the firm’s network problems. “Frequent outages were negatively affecting our ability to meet customers’ expectations, and Beavex needed a solution that would help it become the preferred provider for our target customers who don’t fit the ‘cookie-cutter’ model served by other providers.” The solution had to address the outage problem first and foremost. “Our transportation management system includes a mobile app for our drivers and is the lifeline of our business,” said Stanley. “If a terminal facility loses connectivity, they are flying blind in attempting to manage their fleet of drivers, so keeping this system up and running is our number one priority.”
Initially, the company did some general shopping for a better network—until they heard about SD-WAN. With new understanding of SD-WAN’s capabilities, Stanley laid out the network requirements both to solve the immediate outage crisis and position Beavex for the future. Key criteria included a single provider capable of ensuring secure, fully-managed connectivity through a single platform. Multiple locations performing many varied functions demanded flexibility and ease-of-use, and cost-effectiveness was a given for Beavex to remain competitive. Above all else, failover protection and reliability topped all requirements.
Guaranteed delivery
Windstream Enterprise proposed its SD-WAN Concierge solution to provide more network flexibility, reduce the complexity of managing the network, and improve network reliability with dual access that was provided by a combination of cable, wireless and ethernet at their terminal sites.
“Complaints about outages used to be a daily occurrence. Since implementing SD-WAN, Beavex has reduced outages by 95% and no one talks about the network any more. That’s what I call success.”
- Tim Stanley, Vice President of Information Technology
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