In this kind of profession, having an effective telephone system is critical to maintaining the high standards of customer service and the fast, efficient response that people expect during what is already a stressful time. So when Thomas Birtwistle and Laura Henderson, directors at ET Birtwistle, found out about ADSL’s telephony solutions and how they could help them to achieve enhanced levels of customer service with an improved, more integrated internal telephone system that would work seamlessly between their offices, they couldn’t wait to have a new system installed.
Having grown rapidly to incorporate their two other companies, Talbot Funeral Service and Rishton Funeral Service, it’s not hard to see why ET Birtwistle required a more integrated, efficient telephone system to help manage a growing numbers of customers and the increasing number of internal calls between its two main offices. Following ADSL’s initial assessment of its business needs nearly two years ago, the company’s telephone systems were completely overhauled with the installation of seven new lines, carrying both telephone and Internet broadband services between its two main office sites. With a new Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) system which is now handling all its internal calls and the improved synchronisation between their office landline and mobile telephones facilitated by ADSL, ET Birtwistle is now gaining from significant cost savings and efficiencies.
ET Birtwistle previously subscribed to British Telecom (BT) for all its internal and external calls, but found it inefficient and expensive. Under BT, the company’s two main offices were each operating under separate exchanges making the cost of internal calls between the sites extremely high. There were also significant problems with the call divert system that BT set up to transfer calls from the company’s office landline phones to staff’s mobile handsets while they were working off-site. The considerable delay between the signal being transmitted and reaching the company’s mobile phones meant that ET Birtwistle was losing significant business, as customers became increasingly frustrated by the long wait before finally hanging up their phones.
In contrast, since using ADSL’s VOIP telephone system, connectivity between the company’s offices is now seamless and has resulted in savings of £40 a month, while the connection between office and mobile phones has improved beyond all recognition. Not only are customer calls now instantly diverted from the office phones to mobiles, the actual number of the office flashes up for staff, so they can see exactly which branch is calling.
Delighted with the results he has seen Harry Gibbs, General Manager of ET Birtwistle and Sons Ltd. said: “We cannot speak highly enough about the service that ADSL have provided for us, which has significantly improved our business. Not only is our whole telephone system much faster and efficient, we have saved nearly £2,000 in line rental over two years and all our internal calls are free thanks to the installation of VOIP. I would recommend ADSL to anyone.”