Historic Manufacturer Uses Latest Technology to Improve Call Handling

The Problem

Established in 1867 by the Great, Great, Grandfather of the current Managing Director Ben Burbidge, Burbidge & Son Ltd boasts a rich legacy in woodworking and is one of Coventry’s oldest and highly respected businesses. Originally a manufacturer of wood turned sports equipment such as cricket stumps and croquet mallets, the company expanded in 1900, to supply a wide variety of wooden products for both textile and engineering applications. In 1973, Burbidge began to develop its own kitchen product range. Soon the company name became synonymous with both excellent product design and an uncompromising stance on quality. Burbidge kitchen furniture is a high quality product, designed and produced using superior materials and intended to provide many years of daily use. The company also has a sister company, The Kitchen Furniture Co. that designs and manufactures a range of beautifully designed tables, chairs and bar stools, designed to complement a Burbidge kitchen. With 70 employees, the company has two sites in the City including a sales office, a call centre and a manufacturing plant. Burbidge needed to replace their existing phone system with a more modern alternative as it had come to end of natural life.

IT Manager at Burbidge, Graham Heaven explains, “We used to have an Index system, but eventually it came to the end of its natural life. We couldn’t source hardware parts and it was also becoming expensive to maintain. As we are very much an IT orientated business, we saw this as an opportunity to have a good look at the new offerings on the market, including VoIP and Unified Communications solutions. We looked at many different products including more traditional solutions that would be a like-for-like swap of the Index system. We weren’t keen to implement another box on the wall type product. Instead, we wanted to take advantage of new features that were available with more modern solutions.”

In Summary

The key benefits are:

• Building closer customer relationships
• More effective distribution of calls
• More responsive service for customers & dealers
• Never miss a call
• Lower maintenance costs
• In-house control over call routing
• Comprehensive call recording for proof of conversations & training purposes
• Future-proofed phone system

Burbidge use Swyx’s features to queue calls during busy times so they can more evenly distribute calls across the team. They also take advantage of Swyx’s built-in call recording facility to record all conversations. This is really valuable during the occasional times when there is a dispute regarding a customer order. If needed, you can simply retrieve a recording of whatever was initially agreed over the phone. The staff took to the system well and just use it – they don’t see it as being any different to traditional system, apart from the additional functionality it provides. All employees use Swyx and rely on both the softphone as well as having a desk phone too. There are many really valuable features with Swyx that make lives easier for staff including simple things such as when a call is received, it rings on both an individual’s desk and mobile phone simultaneously.

To find out more about ­­­­­­Swyx software-based phone system and how it will improve your business communication, call us today on 024 7686 7400

The Solution

A flexible software based UC solution that could fully integrate with the company’s database.

After reviewing a number of suppliers, HBT Communications introduced Burbidge to the Swyx software based unified communications platform and they were quite taken with it. From the outset they could see the potential that its features could offer them both now and that it was completely future-proofed. Burbidge also liked the fact that HBT was a local company, and their offices were within walking distance of their factory. The original implementation went very smoothly, just like any other IT project.

One of the immediate benefits of Swyx is that it gives easier control over call routing, you can quickly and simply re-direct calls to particular departments or individuals. Burbidge run a call centre for trade and end-customer enquiries and one feature that they like in particular, is that if a caller rings in more than once in the space of an hour, the call will automatically be routed back to the same representative. When a call comes in they can also see who’s calling because the Swyx system is fully integrated with their customer database, so the name of the customer and any details such as delivery dates and so on automatically populate on the on-screen Swyx-IT softphone skin. This helps to build much closer relationships with customers.

Testimonial

In the future Burbidge is planning to introduce some more extensive call management technology that HBT has developed to work within the Swyx soft skin.