Improved client service and reduced costs

New Directions Holdings is an independent provider of recruitment services to companies across the UK. Group IT Manager at New Directions, Alan Griffiths explains, "We had 8 branch sites located in managed offices. As you can imagine the telecom costs for each location were very high.  At our head office we had an old LG LDK 300 phone system, but it was expensive to maintain and did not give us more sophisticated features that would help us to be more responsive and provide an even better service to our clients."

New Directions reviewed a number of IP-based phone systems including Swyx, 3CX and Shortel, but selected Swyx because of the environment and its flexible call routing.

"Swyx gave us a solution that could be tailored exactly to our needs, integrate with our specialist recruitment software and intelligently direct calls to the right consultant, using the CLI."

The Swyx system was initially installed at the head office in Cardiff and six months later was extended to its 8 remote sites.

Features and Benefits – Lower telecom & maintenance overheads, quicker service & integration with back-office applications

"With the introduction of Swyx” says Alan, “All incoming calls can be routed quickly to the most appropriate person. For example, based on the phone number the system will automatically match it with the relevant consultant that manages a particular client. Then in the event that they are not available based on their ‘presence’ status, it will then re-route to another department. We can programme the system exactly how we want. So if a consultant wants an important client to be fast-tracked to their mobile, then we can pretty much adjust the routing to fit."

Fast turnaround of client requests

"In the recruitment business, being responsive to clients is essential. In particular much of our work is with the education sector, so it’s quite typical that we’ll receive a call in the morning and they need a supply teacher that day!  This means that if we can be ready and available to take that call, we can meet their needs immediately.  If there is a 30 second or 1 minute delay then it could be difference between them using us or turning to another consultancy for help.  With Swyx we now have a tool that ensures the fastest turnaround possible."

"Consultants can also access relevant systems to find information on suitable candidates, because the Swyx solution is fully integrated with our Adapt contact management package."

Everything at a glance

  • More personal and responsive service for clients direct routing to appropriate person
  • Reduced telecoms costs for 9 different sites
  • Ability to monitor and increase performance of consultants
  • Resilient communications tool
  • Savings on mobile calls (£20,000 per year)
  • Faster processing of calls via integration with back office systems
  • Save time on outbound calling with ‘click to call’ functionality
  • Reduced maintenance charges – Moves & Changes can be done in-house e.g. adding new users, setting night service (can be done remotely)
  • ‘Presence’ information eliminates telephone tag – colleagues can see immediately one another’s status e.g. ‘away’, ‘on holiday’, ‘on phone’, ‘out of office’ etc.
  • Built-in call recording provides proof of conversations and rates/conditions agreed with clients

Reduced cost of mobile calls

Having negotiated an attractive mobile tariff with O2, New Directions use Swyx to re-route all mobile calls via its Cardiff office and onto the O2 network.  "This alone saves us £20,000 a year because there is a high volume of calls to mobiles – from candidates to clients. With a conventional switch we wouldn’t be able to take advantage of this service." says Alan.

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Ability to monitor & increase consultants’ performance

"With Swyx’s call reporting software, we can easily analyse the performance of individual consultants, and drill down to detailed information such as who was called, length of time on the phone and so on. We can also listen in to calls for training purposes. Using Swyx’s unique F11 button functionality consultants can simply highlight and click any number from any on-screen resource whether on-line or from a database. This further improves the performance of consultants on the phone. They can also enter notes/results of a call directly on-screen because the relevant record pops up from the database."

Secure & Reliable communications tool

New Directions’ remote sites are linked to the Cardiff site via VPN. Swyx Gold Partner GPNS was responsible for installing an MPLS system to ensure a resilient network for VoIP based calling. Alan says, "GPNS was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about building a network that could ensure a high quality of service. They have a genuine interest in our business and they are always there for us. They always come back you in timely manner without the need to chase and their advice is spot on. We rely on them to point us in the right direction in terms of how we can continue to develop and enhance what Swyx can do for us."

"There is also additional resilience with Swyx, because if the main office suffers downtime for any reason, we can simply move the SwyxServer to another location and make and receive calls from there."

"As a company we wouldn’t be without Swyx, we expect a ROI within 2 years. Swyx is a product that evolves with you, so in the future, the company, together with our partner GPNS will look at other ways we can increase productivity."

About New Directions Holdings

New Directions Holdings is an independent provider of recruitment services to companies across the UK. With head offices in Cardiff, New Directions runs a range of diverse recruitment operations that service both public and private sector clients from across the UK for the education, social and domiciliary, pharmacy and corporate sectors.

The New Directions Group experiences annual increases in turnover in excess of 30% and is regarded as one of the fastest growing recruitment brands in the UK. This has been acknowledged with a number of awards including its inclusion for four of the last five years in the Wales Fast Growth 50 Award recognising the country's 50 fastest growing companies. The company employs 140 staff at both its head office in Cardiff and eight further branch sites across the UK.

 

Swyx Partner: Elite Telecom

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