Swinton opted for the Alcatel-Lucent and Amillan offering based on its superior scalability, as well as the statistical reporting features offered by the network management platform - in depth call information including talk times, abandon rates, and internal calls - which Swinton uses to improve overall performance.
“The primary goal of the new solution was to answer more calls, more efficiently. Thanks to Alcatel-Lucent and Amillan, we have already increased revenue from insurance policy sales, reduced abandoned calls by 25 percent and improved customer service,” said Adrian Hazeldine, IT director at Swinton Group.
Swinton provides personalised service for its customers through its network of high street branches, and ensuring that enquiries from each of its two million policyholders are always handled locally. The sophisticated routing capabilities of the Alcatel-Lucent solution, automatically routes each call first to the caller’s local branch, or alternately to a cluster of ten other area branches. As a result, transfers to the overspill call centre have been reduced by 40 percent. Additionally, branch advisors’ handsets are now able to display call type, driving improved market intelligence to focus on call handling.
The network IP telephony solution is based on the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise platform, OmniTouch Contact Center software and OmniVista 4760 Network Management platform. VoIP has improved internal communications and enabled free telephone calls among all Swinton sites and branches, resulting in estimated savings of more than GBP 100,000 per year.
Swinton is planning to open a new 150-seat call centre in early 2008 and expand its existing outbound call centre operations. The company has also purchased 50 licences for Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniTouch Unified Communications suite, in order to examine the benefits offered by unified communications and collaboration technology.
“Swinton has used IP telephony to transform its business,” said Martin Ratcliffe, business development manager at Amillan. “As with other forward-thinking companies, Swinton has found the benefits of an IP communications deployment extend far beyond cost savings. The organisation has been able to greatly increase its internal efficiency and differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace with superior service levels and a customer-centric approach.”
“Alcatel-Lucent is committed to helping organisations like Swinton transform their operations to become more dynamic and better utilise their networks, people, processes and company knowledge,” said Anil Srivastava, executive VP for EMEA, Alcatel-Lucent enterprise activities. “By deploying advanced IP telephony and collaboration solutions, enterprises not only stand to make immediate improvements to service provision, but they will also gain greater intelligence and insight into their internal processes, helping to deliver further efficiency improvements going forward.”