VoIP delivers cost-savings and improved control over customer support calls for Australian office products supplier, Corporate Express.
The most popular trend in networking these days is the convergence of voice and data traffic over a single network. Yet while this is often done for the cost savings it delivers, office supply company Corporate Express is finding Voice over IP (VoIP) technology even more important for its ability to improve control over customer support calls.
One of Australia's largest suppliers of stationery and office products to businesses, Corporate Express has over 1500 employees spread across 25 locations in Australia and New Zealand. Supporting its operations, and liaising directly with customers, is a staff of more than 100 customer service phone representatives.
Those representatives had, in the past, relied upon aging conventional switched PABX phone systems that provided the company with no visibility as to what the phone representatives were doing.
There was no opportunity, for example, to view and modify queues of incoming customer calls, nor could call centre supervisors easily get reports on call statistics.
Earlier this year, CE began working with Cisco and integrator NEC to implement the telephony network's IP-based successor. The network was built using a number of Cisco voice-capable switches, telephony gateways and Cisco's Intelligent Call Manager software, along with dozens of IP-based handsets that will eventually replace existing analogue telephones across the company. Telstra's Private IP data service provides connectivity between the sites.
The new system has delivered substantial benefits to Corporate Express, which now has the ability to monitor call queues more closely and to reallocate them to maximise the call centre's efficiency.
"We took them from simple switching of telephone calls into a more aggressive situation that lets Corporate Express manage their own destiny," says John Nematalla, managing director of Nemcom Solutions and primary technical consultant during the IP telephony implementation. "In the vertical industry where they operate, they view technology as the classic enabler. This technology allows them to dynamically manage bandwidth, analyse call traffic, and provide internal customers with services."
Brisbane, Gold Coast and ACT offices were the first to get the IP treatment, with the Sydney rollout currently underway and Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth planned for next year.
Yet while the technology is obviously critical for the success of the project, it's not the only thing, warns Nematalla. As with any project, it's important to get staff buy-in so they make the most of the IP telephony system's capabilities. To get this buy-in, Corporate Express held a series of half-day workshops in which employees were shown the new system's capabilities.
"They appreciated there was a reality and a commitment behind it," says Nematalla. "They were not positive of mind, and we benefited directly from their productivity. Because of the efficiencies this system has provided and thanks to their attitude, they're now taking more calls."
