Life Storage, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Buffalo, New York, that focuses on self-storage properties across the United States. A BBB A+ accredited business, it operates more than 1,000 locations and has grown by acquiring multiple other companies. Its IT organization, led by Vice President of IT Jeff O'Donnell and Director of Network Services Chris Vandrei, supports operations, customer care and the company's contact center.

Operating more than 1,000 locations and absorbing multiple acquired companies had left Life Storage with a patchwork of communication vendors and platforms. The company wanted to consolidate on a single provider to reduce inefficiencies, but that provider had to meet strict requirements for reliability, cloud compatibility, security and automation, and it had to have the capabilities to keep growing with the company as it continued to acquire.

Experience with previous providers set the bar. The contact center had lived with channel and SIP trunking issues, and the network services team was fielding too many late-night and early-morning troubleshooting calls. Life Storage also needed a platform its employees would embrace, with a simple interface, navigation and execution, and it wanted a provider it could trust to stay on schedule.

Life Storage built its shortlist from partner recommendations. "We talked to a few of our trusted partners, and IntelePeer was a name that kept coming up, which is why we started to look in that direction," said Jeff O'Donnell, Vice President of IT. IntelePeer met all of the company's requirements, and O'Donnell recognized that its Communications Automation Platform (CAP) offered features such as Smart IVR, Managed Services and AI automation that would let Life Storage grow beyond what it used on day one. Employees also took to the platform's interface, navigation and execution.

Implementation coincided with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects slowed, but IntelePeer stayed ready, ramped up on time and was prepared when Life Storage went live. All of Life Storage's communications tools now run under one platform. IntelePeer's cloud platform supports back-end processes including operations and customer care, and its SIP trunking is backed by 99.999% uptime and a triple-redundant network.

Next, Life Storage plans to work with IntelePeer's Managed Solutions team to optimize automation and to roll out Smart IVR so customers can navigate the contact center helpdesk more quickly.

• All communications tools for more than 1,000 locations now managed on one unifying platform
• Positive call center feedback with no channel or SIP trunking issues
• 99.999% uptime and a triple-redundant network behind SIP trunking
• Fewer late-night and early-morning troubleshooting calls for the network services team
• Consolidation lets the Life Storage team do more with less
• Smart IVR and Managed Solutions planned to extend automation further