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By Amy Oldham
December 1, 2023
2023 has certainly been a remarkable year at Equinox. This fall, we celebrated the beginning of our 38th year serving the telecommunications industry while also hosting the 25th annual Protector User Group Meeting (PUGM) in Nashville. Both events came on the heels of Equinox implementing and deploying the Protector 11 fraud management system (FMS) and the TeleLink 11 mediation, reporting, and revenue assurance platform for a record number of customers. As the Vice President of Equinox Support, Chris Lowe has a front row seat for this year’s flurry of activity. That’s exactly why I sat down with him to talk about what impact, if any, it had on the customer support process.
As we began the conversation, the first thing we did was recount the many reasons Equinox has to celebrate. Beyond the two anniversary milestones and record deployments, the year saw the formalization of the Derek L. Drake Memorial Tennis Scholarship, followed by a new product launch announcement, then the addition of a new team member (Jackson) in Equinox Support, a wildly successful TeleLink User Group Meeting (TUGM) in April, a loving tribute to company founder and President Wayne Lowe upon his retirement, and finally a job search culminating in two new hires (one software developer and another Equinox Support specialist).
We both agreed that it’s been an exceptionally blessed and busy year around Equinox. We also agreed that Equinox has the best customers on the planet who have been busier than ever helping their customers get connected, especially with remote work requirements. In addition to assisting existing customers, Chris pointed out that we’d not only signed new customers this year, but we’d also had more than 75% of customers currently under maintenance elect to upgrade to the all-new Protector 11 and TeleLink 11 solutions. As a result, Equinox expanded both the development and support teams.
According to Chris, Equinox Support has worked more closely than ever before with customers this year. He explained one factor was that many companies identified new or different business challenges in recent months as a result of increased volumes, new markets, mergers, and acquisitions. Of course, the first year of full release saw his team rolling out the completely new Protector fraud management system (FMS) to almost 40 companies who were already customers. At the same time, his team was also responsible for configuring and installing the TeleLink 11 reporting and mediation platform for nearly 20 telecom providers who licensed the next generation iteration of this system.
Chris explained how his team handled the abundance of concurrent projects by saying, “we have an exceptionally cohesive team. Although 2023 was one of the company’s busiest years in history, everyone worked together well thanks to the unusually long tenure here—our average employee tenure is 18 years across the entire company, and the development team has 138 years’ experience creating telecom software solutions with each other. Equinox has such an outstanding tenure because it’s a great place to work. The company has always put family first, and as a result, employees treat each other with respect and are always willing to jump in and lend a hand period but especially to help each other with customer projects.”
Next, we discussed how customer support at Equinox differs from the traditional customer support model. For us, it is all about serving customers. Chris was quick to remind that Equinox does not have a telephony system or chat bots; instead, humans answer all calls and emails. And they do so in a timely fashion! Members of Equinox Support have specialized knowledge of the products they support along with industry experience. Plus, they are expert listeners. This combination ensures the best solution for each customer’s issue or question. Chris ended with, “support not only listens to customers, but they also listen to each other. As a result, they are quick to share resources, brainstorm efficient solutions, and assist one another with atypical workloads. The support team is committed to exceptional service and will always find a way to deliver what customers need no matter what else is happening. They’re the best!”
In other words, Equinox is not now nor has never been in the business of simply delivering software. Instead, our solutions include training, support and maintenance, ongoing product enhancements, and, most of all, a partner who listens and responds every step of the way. We’re here to help:
Amy Oldham is the Director, Corporate Communications at Equinox Information Systems, where she creates and maintains the company’s technical documentation and all other customer-facing publications. Amy is also responsible for the company’s newsletter, email campaigns, press releases, and social media presence. When not writing, Amy enjoys spending time with her amazing husband and awesome adult son, playing tennis, attending Dave Matthews Band concerts, and swimming.
To learn more about Equinox, its products, and staff, visit www.equinoxis.com or call (615) 612-1200.
