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CAN/AM: Service Continuity for a Hockey Events Company That Can't Afford a Bad Connection

CAN/AM Hockey migrates from an on-premise ShoreTel PBX to Mitel MiCloud Connect — eliminating service interruptions for remote staff, avoiding thousands in upfront hardware costs, and giving a team that manages 26,000+ players the reliability their clients expect.

The Challenge

CAN/AM's on-premise ShoreTel PBX was creating service interruptions for remote employees whenever the internet went down at their Lake Geneva headquarters — leaving staff unable to communicate with clients during active event seasons.

The Solution

CTPros migrated CAN/AM to Mitel MiCloud Connect — removing the dependency on the on-premise PBX, restoring service reliability for remote staff, and saving thousands in upfront hardware and license renewal costs.

About CAN/AM

CAN/AM is a full-service provider of hockey camp and tournament destination event packages. Each year, CAN/AM manages over 600 youth hockey teams — 26,000+ players and their families — running marketing campaigns, managing team registrations, handling scheduling and rostering, securing hotels and meals, and overseeing events from start to finish. The team operates year-round from their Wisconsin headquarters and remotely from event locations across the U.S. and Canada. When communications go down, the operation goes with them.

Internet Down at HQ — Remote Employees Unreachable

CAN/AM had been running on a ShoreTel on-premise PBX for nearly a decade. The system worked when it worked — but whenever internet service went down at the Lake Geneva headquarters where the PBX lived, remote employees who depended on that connection lost the ability to make or receive calls entirely. For a team that spends much of the year organizing and running events across the country, that kind of single point of failure wasn't acceptable.

Eric Chapman, CAN/AM's Director, was also facing the practical question of what to do next. Several service renewals were coming due, and the cost of refreshing the on-premise infrastructure — new hardware, license fees, support agreements — was significant. Chapman reached out to CTPros, who had installed the original ShoreTel system and remained their support partner throughout, to understand what the options actually were.

A Full Analysis — and a Cloud Migration That Went Smoothly

Scott Dressel, Major Accounts Manager at CTPros, led the engagement. With service renewals coming due and a remote workforce that needed reliable connectivity regardless of what happened at HQ, the analysis pointed clearly toward a hosted solution. Moving to Mitel MiCloud Connect removed the dependency on the on-premise PBX at headquarters entirely — each employee connects directly to Mitel's geo-redundant servers through their local internet connection, independent of what's happening in Lake Geneva.

Chapman was concerned about disruption — long-term employees who knew the old system well and might find the transition difficult. The migration turned out to be straightforward. The differences between the old system and the new one were described as minor, and the hosted platform proved easy to adopt.

Remote Workers Back Online, Costs Down, and a Future Looking Bright

The move to MiCloud Connect resolved the service continuity problem completely. Remote employees connect directly through their own internet service — the headquarters PBX is no longer in the path. Service uptime improved immediately, and staff can respond to clients without the interruptions that had been limiting their effectiveness during active event seasons.

On the cost side, CAN/AM avoided the upfront expense of a PBX refresh — no new hardware, no license fees, no support renewal costs for on-premise infrastructure. Vendor billing simplified as well, with all telecom services outside of local internet now consolidated through a single provider.

Chapman's summary was direct: employees are happy, customers are happy, and the organization has the infrastructure it needs to keep growing.

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