Bowman Trailer Leasing: 32 Locations Synced With One Cloud Phone System

Bowman Trailer Leasing has been providing trailers and containers for land, sea and on-site storage since 1972. With locations across 14 states, the company has become the leading trailer rental company on the East Coast. It has more than 175 employees and caters to Fortune 500 companies such as Wal-Mart Stores, Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

Bowman Trailer Leasing is headquartered in Maryland, with 32 locations throughout the East Coast. A majority of its employees work remotely, but it was at headquarters that problems started to arise with the company’s old Avaya PBX system.

What were those problems? More than 30 employees were attempting to share 16 voicemail boxes. No one had direct lines. And if those issues weren’t enough, getting technicians to service the PBX was difficult and expensive.

It was time for Mike Mullan, Bowman Trailer Leasing’s IT manager, to find a new phone system. “We wanted to take back control and not rely on external vendors,” he says. “I am the only IT staff member here. RingCentral was the perfect cost-effective solution that allows me to leverage technology as much as possible. ”

Eliminating individual PBX systems for 32 different offices was just the beginning of the company’s cost savings, which Mullan estimates are greater than $95,000 per year.

Bowman Trailer Leasing now uses RingCentral’s auto-receptionist feature for its 800 number to direct calls, keeping customer wait times short. Prior to signing up for RingCentral, an expensive third-party dispatcher was used to answer these calls after normal business hours.

Bowman Trailer Leasing was also able to eliminate all traditional fax lines. (The accounting department was particularly happy about RingCentral’s online fax feature, which makes it easy to keep electronic copies of important documents.)

RingCentral hasn’t just produced big savings for Bowman Trailer Leasing – communication between employees has become simpler, too. Employees use the RingCentral mobile app to talk to each other and customers.

“We purchased smartphones for all of our employees to utilize the RingCentral app. Our employees can now assist our customers even if they are on the road or working on equipment in the yard,” Mullan says.

That has led to reduced hold times and better customer relations, Mullan notes.

“This product has allowed us to integrate telephony with our company,” he says. “We look forward to future updates and being a customer for life.”

Originally published Feb 20, 2014, updated Aug 19, 2021