The Client

Founded in 1985, SolutionsPT is a digital transformation specialist serving the industrial sector.

It offers a broad range of industrial automation and IT solutions, spanning operations, cyber security, engineering, computing and networking, backed by professional consultancy, training and support services.

Listed for a decade among the Sunday Times’ 100 Best Companies to Work For, SolutionsPT is headquartered in Cheadle, Cheshire, where it employs around 120 staff.

Business Needs

As with so many businesses, SolutionsPT has embraced hybrid working as its defacto operating model, presenting a challenge which the company’s existing on-premise PBX could not meet.

IT Manager, Dallen Lord, takes up the story: “We had softphone capability with the PBX but we all naturally started moving to Microsoft Teams as we started working from home.

We ended up having two separate phone systems which meant calls were missed as people were not logged onto the PBX and only using Teams.

He also notes that the PBX was “a bit flaky” in handling softphone calls.

“The existing communications solution wasn’t working for us, so we had to look for an alternative,” he says.

The pursuit of that alternative was, though, more complicated than simply looking for a Teams-friendly telephony system. “The existing PBX gave us a lot of functionality, with automatic call distribution (ACD) for our technical support and operations teams.

“It was a good PBX but, because of our changing business needs, we needed to find a solution that would mean we could have calls coming in through Teams but which also provided ACD and the advanced call routing functionality which we already had.”

In addition, Solutions PT employed Microsoft Dynamics, a suite of business applications incorporating a number of powerful operational and customer experience tools. This would also need be integrated within any future solution.

The Solution

Being a long-term Avoira client, SolutionsPT naturally turned to our unified communications, contact centre and connectivity specialists.

The company appreciated that as a vendor independent value added reseller (VAR) and solutions provider, we could offer advice that was both independent and expert.

The first element of the solution we proposed was deployment of Microsoft Teams Direct Routing to replace the existing, non-integrated and clunky PBX-Teams setup.

Direct Routing would provide a singular, cloudhosted telephony platform, enabling calls to be made and received over any Teams enabled device using existing DDIs.

This, however still, left the issue of the advanced call functionality demanded of SolutionsPT in its desire to optimise customer service standards and maximise operational efficiency.

This is where our consultancy expertise came into its own. “Avoira’s consultative approach took a bit of work from us. They did the groundwork assessed our requirements and recommended a number of products that may fit our requirements.

We got an independent view backed by specialist knowledge. “We then went through quite a vigorous selection process, having demonstrations of various contact centre products,” reports Dallen.

Those products included Luware Nimbus, a sophisticated, cloud-based suite of powerful customer service tools. Being modular, Luware empowers companies to deploy only the technologies which they need.

“We had a team of six, various team leaders from operations, tech support and sales. We scored each of the vendors and everybody put Luware Nimbus on top. We were quite confident that it would give us the required functionality,” reports Dallen.

SolutionsPT opted for the Nimbus’ Enterprise Routing module, a contact centre solution which enables integration of business tools – such as Microsoft Teams and Dynamics – and the automation of processes.

As such it provides a simple way of managing call flows and delivering superior customer experiences. This was, of course, key. “Our key priority is to provide the best possible customer service, which means answering calls as efficiently and effectively as possible,” notes Dallen.

Enterprise Routing also incorporates an impressive reporting tool which can capture and present a wide range of data. This can significantly enhance management insights to inform more efficient deployment of staff and satisfaction of customer service requirements.

Another benefit of Luware Nimbus is that it is subject to flat-rated group licensing, rather than the traditional seat-based model. This is not only more transparent, but cost-efficient.

The Benefits

SolutionsPT’s IT team worked in partnership with our engineers to plan and deliver implementation of what Dallen describes as a “seamless integration.”

Indeed so stress-free was the transition from PBX to the Teams-Luware solution that it raised the eyebrows of both Dallen and Technical Support Leader, Sam Tomlinson.

“It almost went too smoothly!” reports Sam. “It all just worked from day one and we’ve had no problems since. To be honest, I’ve never known something to go that smoothly.”

With the solution successfully embedded, the company could focus on its capabilities and benefits, of which there are many.

“One of the biggest things is it’s much more robust than the old system which was a bit flaky on softphones. The Avoira solution just works,” enthuses Dallen.

He continues: “We’ve also got better visibility and reporting. Luware has given us a highly flexible, customisable package which allows us to really tailor the data we need and how we view it. We can draw insights and reports, data points and KPIs that we’ve never been able to do before.

Sam agrees, pointing out that Luware “gives us a kind of heat map of our busiest times which allows us to better plan resources and ensure calls are answered as quickly as possible.”

Integration with Microsoft Dynamics offers further benefits.

“We have the ability to screenpop into Dynamics. When a customer’s call comes in the Operations team receives a populated contact record within Dynamics, based on the caller line identity.

The operator can immediately see who manages that contract and swiftly transfer the call to them,” explains Dallen.

“The Technical Support team can also see the call, say “hello” and “I see you have an issue with X, Y, Z.” “It saves time searching for records and delivers better customer service.”

A Call Monitoring, Whisper and Barge In feature is also much appreciated. “This is really important, especially if we’ve got new recruits. We need to have the ability to coach and train them whilst they’re on calls.”

Coupled with the simplicity, effectiveness and cost-saving benefits of Direct Routing, it’s safe to say the integrated Avoira solution has transformed SolutionPTs communications and enhanced the experience for its customers.