Kasun Weerasinghe | Senior IT Specialist
The company’s tours include in-state routes such as the Pacific Coast Highway riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and scenic cross-country trips from Los Angeles to Orlando. To relax after a day of riding, EagleRider also provides Ride and Stay Programs, where motorcycle enthusiasts can rent their bike and book their hotel simultaneously by staying at EagleRider’s motorcycle-friendly partner hotels and motels.
Senior IT Specialist, Kasun Weerasinghe, joined EagleRider in 2016. His responsibilities include maintaining all company-related IT assets, procuring new solutions through different vendors, and sustaining the overall tech infrastructure.
The company solely had a Panasonic PBX, but with their growth trajectory, they wanted a communications system that would complement their PBX while transitioning their locations, and accommodate their expansion goals.
“Nextiva’s been the solution and the answer to all my problems as far as getting the sites up. Once connected, I add the devices via a MAC address and voila. They are up and running!”
When looking for a new communications system in 2017 their vendor, Redline Telecom, who set up the Panasonic PBX system they were using at the time, recommended he look into Nextiva as a cloud-based solution. After Kasun researched Nextiva by viewing the website and reading reviews, learning about the reliable customer support, and scalability for their growing company, he decided Nextiva was the right choice for EagleRider and switched in March 2017.
Their implementation process began with two phones in their Palm Springs, CA location, and since has gradually expanded to more than 80 locations nationwide with over 100 active lines of service. The transition was simple for Kasun, as he worked with his Nextiva Channel and Account Managers to learn the VoIP system and switch from their Panasonic PBX to Nextiva.
Nextiva gives EagleRider flexibility and convenience when setting up their new communications systems in various locations. The company aims to implement and transition each of their locations within two weeks—which doesn’t leave room for inefficient technology. Ease of use and quick setup of the Nextiva platform is beneficial for Kasun because he saves time, and can complete transitions in about a week. “The alternative with our old system would have been to order equipment from Cisco to match our routers, and then train someone to hook them up. Or I would travel to those locations to set things up. Basically, a lot of tasks that can’t be done in two weeks in 80 locations,” he said.
In the past when a new location went up, they had to purchase network equipment, and schedule travel to locations to set up the phones and voicemails, which wasn’t an ideal timeline for their current growth of adding over 10 locations per month.
Kasun manages the company’s communications through NextOS. By using a single centralized dashboard for over 80 locations, he can update greetings, and adjust auto attendants or call flows without having to log in to different applications. This saves him time so he can take care of adjustments quickly. “When you log in to the dashboard, it gives you a really good overview of what our account looks like, our number of locations, how many devices are in use, and how many user accounts we have,” he said.
Currently, EagleRider has 82 satellite locations that use Nextiva numbers and phones, and are continuing to expand Nextiva service and phones to additional locations. Kasun said with Nextiva, he can get a phone up and running at a location within a day or less. “Nextiva’s been the solution and the answer to all my problems as far as getting the sites up,” he said. With Nextiva, Kasun said it’s as easy as getting together the list of sites with details, requesting local/toll free numbers, and shipping the phones directly. “Once connected, I add the devices via a MAC address and voila. They are up and running!”
“It’s not complicated using and managing Nextiva features. Whenever I have questions, I call Nextiva Support and they’re able to help me out quickly.”
EagleRider primarily uses Auto Attendants and call forwarding to provide excellent service to their customers. “We set up Auto Attendants for each location, upload our custom greetings, and use call forwarding. Call forwarding ensures that if a site doesn’t pick up, the caller is forwarded to our customer service center in Las Vegas.”
Before they implemented Nextiva numbers at each location, EagleRider was using a generic number for their call center. When customers called, they were first greeted by a call center agent, and then routed to a specific location. Now that they use Nextiva’s phone lines and routing, customers can get in touch with their desired location directly without being routed through the call center using an Auto Attendant. On a store level, EagleRider uses Nextiva communications to answer and route calls to their call center if needed. They provide their satellite Rental Kiosks with at least two desktop and one cordless Panasonic phone from Nextiva.
Nextiva’s Support team has been valuable to Kasun—as the Senior IT Specialist responsible for the company’s technology needs, he can contact Support and get assistance quickly, saving valuable time and increasing productivity. “It’s not complicated,” he said of using and managing Nextiva features. “Whenever I have questions, I call Nextiva Support and they’re able to help me out quickly.”
Kasun said his experience working with Nextiva has been positive and has helped EagleRider maintain their growth trajectory. It can be difficult to work with tech-related vendors, he said, given the technical details that go into each conversation and transaction. “Getting to know our Channel and Account Managers, and receiving their support whenever I need has been the easiest thing I’ve done. And speaking on our contact at Redline Telecom’s behalf, Nextiva has made our lives so much easier,” Kasun commented.
