IP telephony keeps Realty Group agents connected
To keep its mobile agents connected, one of the country's largest privately-owned real estate groups turned to Avaya for a simple solution...
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With 19 branch offices in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Taranaki, Realty Group, incorporating Bayleys and Eves is one of the country's largest privately-owned real estate groups. Like so many businesses that have progressively opened countrywide offices, telephone systems have remained the domain of local office managers, rather than following more centralised command and control delivery, like IT. But only recently, as IP telephony fuses voice with IT, have companies like Realty Group been in the position to consider group-wide standardisation. The problem, and opportunity, was automating communication between agents and customers. Realty Group IT manager Simon Aubrey said the accessibility and responsiveness of his company's 350 staff was being hampered by absent functionality, including voicemail and direct dial-in. “Customer service is vital to our business. Every single client wants personalised service and to reach agents immediately. If they don't get this service they are likely to take their business elsewhere,” Aubrey said. “We were running too much interference. We wanted to put our customers straight through to the person they needed to talk to instead of telling them to press one for a list of extensions, two for accounts and so on,” he said. Aubrey wanted to use Realty Group's existing IT infrastructure as the platform for centralised IP telephony, offering vital functions expected of twenty one Century businesses and a future-proof upgrade path. The solution Avaya's state-of-the-art 5410 display and 5610 IP telephones deliver superior voice quality. The 5610 phones have been specifically optimised for IP networks and feature built-in Ethernet switch ports, simplifying desktop implementation. A key feature is Avaya's Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which enables Realty Group's smaller satellite offices to 'trunk' or plug in to the voice system of a larger counterpart. For example, if the Cambridge office misses a call, someone in Hamilton can answer it. “It frees up in-house IT management and makes it much faster and simpler to extend the voice platform,” Aubrey said. Another dimension to IP trunking enables Aubrey's IT team to assign four extension numbers, enabling employees to directly call one another, even when they're in different offices. Mobile twinning has been used to effectively bridge landlines and mobiles. When an office phone is not answered after three rings the linked mobile also rings. And should the call go unanswered it is automatically redirected to mobile voicemail. If a call is missed Avaya's Phone Manager logs the missed call against the relevant extension, recording call time and origin. A centralised answering service automatically directs after-hours office calls to a nominated duty agent. “The agents manage this service themselves ensuring our customers receive the excellent service they deserve,” Aubrey said. Payback All systems are maintained remotely from a desktop, eliminating costly site visits. IT staff can now use simple menus to add users or set agent preferences, from any location. Avaya's IP trunking system extends the platform in many useful ways – such as company-wide extensions, improving intra-organisational communication. Perhaps more importantly, frustrating customers with agent inaccessibility or jumping them through automated call management hoops is in the distant past. The saying goes that you'll rarely find a good sales person at their desk. Historically, this was problematic for staying in touch, but mobile twinning has solved the problem. “A large number of our staff are seldom in the office and twinning means we don't have to worry about where they are,” Aubrey said. “It doesn't matter if they've nipped out to the bank, or are away for the day, we can ring them on their DDI and get straight through – geography isn't a factor.” Twinning also delivers cost savings. Missed calls have decreased, as have toll calls made by agents returning phone messages. However, it is cellular trunking that offers the greatest savings, by treating mobile numbers included in Realty Group's Telecom Zero-calling mobile plan as landline calls. Inter-office toll calls have also been culled. By using the internet's main protocol to send calls as packets of data, rather than via circuit switching of the public phone network, IP telephony avoids toll charges. “Interoffice communication is as simple as ringing an extension,” Aubery said. “It is like having all your offices in one building.” Increased cost savings and greater connectivity are just the tip of the iceberg, Aubrey said. “From an IT perspective, it is the systems ease of use and its future adaptability that make it great. Avaya continually enhances the systems features. Take for example the integration of Outlook to voicemail, which lets users control their voicemail greetings from their Outlook calendars. If they are at a meeting or on annual leave it is reflected in their voicemail greeting,” Aubrey said. “We did look at several other vendors but Avaya's scalability and the features it offered made it by far the best solution for our operation”. Strategic insight Just what should businesses consider? This is where the scope and scalability of Avaya's IP telephony gives users the best of both worlds. It meets present day expectations, while offering flexibility to accommodate future demands. For more information 8/6/30_ex_h_nl |
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