Jenny Craig Achieving Goals with
Avaya¿ IP Office
 

Jenny Craig Inc., one of the largest weight management service companies in the world, offers approximately 660 company-owned and franchised locations throughout the world to help patrons reach their weight-loss goals. To make their clients' dreams a reality, both branch locations and corporate headquarters demand a reliable phone system that allows patrons to speak with counselors at the patrons' convenience. Jenny Craig has found no better partner to provide such a total solution than Avaya. The Avaya Solution includes the Avaya¿ IP Office system for smaller locations, and the Avaya MultiVantage¿ software-based suite of servers and gateways for larger locations.

The Business Challenge

Founded in 1983, Jenny Craig, Inc. offers a comprehensive weight management program through personal, one-on-one consultations at Jenny Craig Centers or over the phone as part of the Jenny Direct Program. Because the program has been in operation for almost twenty years, many centers had old, original telephone systems and equipment—mostly Executone. When equipment failed, obtaining replacement parts was sometimes troublesome, and newer phones were no longer supported on the old system, so replacing these systems in many branches across the United States became necessary.

At the same time, the corporate office was preparing for a move to a new building, which required a new system that could better handle the high volume of calls that the Jenny Craig call center received for food orders and customer service resolution. While branch offices are not currently networked to the corporate office, the ability to do so in the future would be an important factor in choosing a new system.

Most branch offices need approximately eight telephone handsets, an additional line or two for faxes and credit card machines. Tony Lopes, telecommunications engineer for Jenny Craig, wanted a new system to adequately meet current needs, while allowing for future expansion and easy deployment of new technology, without purchasing another new system.

“For headquarters, I was looking for a powerful phone system that could support our call center, offer call center managers new and enhanced reporting tools to help them optimize operations, and grow with our operation,” said Lopes. “And in the branches, it was important to me not to overbuy. I wanted an appropriately-sized system that offered dependable voice over-IP capability and could grow with the branch offices—both in terms of size and technology expansion.”

So Lopes’ search began. He recalls looking at a variety of systems with the help of his Avaya BusinessPartner including IP, PBX and blended solutions, with his focus being on the best solution to meet current needs with expansion capabilities for the future.

“We wanted current technology in a welldeveloped, tested system that I could feel secure in recommending to the company,” Lopes explained. “At the top of my requirements list was dependability. Because Avaya is a market leader, we felt that the solutions they offered were the safest choice available to us.”

The Solution

The Avaya¿ IP Office solution was clearly the best system to meet Jenny Craig’s branch office needs. The IP403 system offers both digital and analog lines running through a single switch, allowing Lopes to put both digital handsets and analog equipment, such as credit card or fax machines, all on the same switch, while also using the unit as a hub to network computers in the same office to the system. This scalability allowed Lopes to consolidate phone lines and eliminate excess computer hubs, creating a clean solution and saving money.

The Avaya IP Office solution also allows for a router and firewall to be added, if Lopes feels they are needed in any of the branch locations. This capability further streamlines the solution and eliminates the need for additional computer hardware and software.

By incorporating each branch’s communications on a single switch, Lopes is able to easily manage the solution remotely, using the IP Office Phone Manager. Adds, moves, and drops are easy to administer, and the system has more than enough capacity for future growth in each branch. Remote system management benefits Jenny Craig greatly; Lopes does not have technicians in his local centers, and changes were previously handled by outside vendors, or by Lopes himself traveling to the location to handle issues that arose.

The greatest benefit Lopes realized with the Avaya IP Office system was its flexibility in configuration. Lopes was able, with the help of his BusinessPartner, to configure the system to his exact specifications before the unit was shipped to its new branch home. This pre-configuration allowed easy installation and use right out of the box with few, if any problems or disruptions to the branch’s daily operations. And on the rare occasion that trouble did occur, Avaya and the BusinessPartner were able to make changes to the next configuration to prevent the problem from occurring in the next branch to receive its new system.

To date, Jenny Craig has successfully deployed approximately 50 IP Office systems in branch offices throughout the United States. To test large volume cutovers, Lopes continues to implement the system to branch offices at a rate of 15 per week in his targeted test markets, Seattle and Sacramento. Large volume implementations have worked well to date; Avaya and the BusinessPartner worked with Jenny Craig to create a specific process for deployment, which includes the addition of a training sheet in the box with the solution, and a mailing label to return the old system. Lopes expects to deploy 300 new systems across the country in the next four to five months.

Branch Activity Supported by Strong Infrastructure at Headquarters

Because Jenny Craig branch centers have always been so successful and popular, there was ademand from consumers to have access to the same services and programs from the convenience of their own homes. As a result, Jenny Craig began its At Home program, which allows customers to order food, have one-on-one consultations, and obtain menu plans over the telephone.

At Home has experienced steady growth over the past years. In order to provide the same excellent service over the phone that branch teams provide in person, Jenny Craig also implemented a larger Avaya solution to support its Headquarters telephone system and call center needs. Jenny Craig’s new infrastructure is based on the Avaya MultiVantage¿ Software, a highly reliable voice application that supports over 500 telephony features. The Avaya¿ S8700 Media Servers and Avaya¿ G600 Media Gateways provide Jenny Craig call processing capabilities and distribute Avaya MultiVantage telephony features across the company’s Headquarters’ network.

While the branch’s IP Office systems are not currently networked back to the Headquarters location, Jenny Craig’s new Avaya systems can handle the transition. Over time, the company hopes to link local centers to Headquarters, converging data traffic on a single platform and expanding the contact center into a virtual operation that routes overload traffic to other corporate sites.

“Jenny Craig is a leader. To that end, I wanted a solution that would work for us today while positioning us for the future,” Lopes said. “Avaya and our Avaya BusinessPartner understood that wish and gave us the support and the end-to-end solution we needed to achieve a path for the future.”

Jenny Craig had almost fault-free implementations at both Headquarters and in the branch offices.

“I was very comfortable throughout the implementation process,” Lopes recalls. “My BusinessPartner worked alongside me, allowing me to be as meticulous as I needed to be to feel comfortable before systems were deployed. They were often more meticulous than I, thinking of issues I hadn’t and solving them up front. Any slight ‘hiccups’ in the systems were fixed quickly, and our record call volume in our Headquarters call center is evidence that our cutover was a great success.”[/Span]

Branch locations’ IP Office implementations were equally smooth.

“Avaya and my BusinessPartner were also terrific at doing the legwork surrounding my branch office deployments,” Lopes recalls. “The implementation process we designed worked very well, and as with my MultiVantage deployment, issues were identified and addressed upfront. I’d be concerned about doing a national system roll-out with any other system.”

To find out how CTI can provide Avaya solutions for your particular business challenges, call us at 1-888-477-4CTI.

CTI will even provide a free ROI (Return on Investment) analysis based upon your individual needs.

Goal Jenny Craig needed a reliable phone system in both branch locations and their corporate headquarters that allowed patrons to speak with counselors at the patrons' convenience. Solution * Avaya IP Office for Branch Offices * Avaya MultiVantage¿ Software supports headquarters' call center operations * IP Office Phone Manager Results Scalability allowed Jenny Craig to consolidate phone lines and eliminate excess computer hubs, saving money. Jenny Craig has successfully deployed approximately 50 IP Office systems in branch offices throughout the United States. Jenny Craig is now poised for future transitions, including linking local centers to headquarters, converging data traffic on a single platform and expanding the contact center into a virtual operation that routes overload traffic to other corporate centers.