Situation

Denver-based Qwest Communications is a Fortune 500 company with 40,000 employees and 2006 revenues of nearly $14 billion. Qwest provides local, long distance and wireless telephone service, digital TV, Voice over IP, and broadband Internet access to 14 western U.S. states.

In 2007, Qwest Communications hired Peak Systems to develop a company-wide tool that streamlined and automated Qwest’s press release writing. The tool manages all aspects of the press release process for Qwest.

Services Provided

Application Development

Solution

Since timing is crucial when it comes to press releases, the tool includes a variety of scheduling options: press releases can be set to automatically go live at a certain time on a particular day, can be set to expire after a specified time period and are automatically archived. The tool also includes Content Management System functionality like HTML editing and the ability to designate multiple, specific employees as media contacts for each press release.

Access and workflow management are also well supported. Users with administrative privileges decide whether to hold, publish, save or edit press releases and when to do so. All users are granted one of several levels of access, ensuring that they only see information that is relevant and appropriate given their position in the company.

Results

Now Qwest has a well-documented, shared press release tool and a company-wide process for issuing press releases. This ensures more consistency and efficiency in Qwest’s PR efforts and provides a substantial cost savings.