Franklin Machine Products: Serving Customers with the Avaya¿ IP Office Solution
 

Franklin Machine Products (FMP) plays an important role in keeping restaurants and other foodservice businesses running smoothly as a leading distributor of food machine products. Founded in the early 1900s as a manufacturer of parts for restaurant machines, FMP has evolved to become a leading distributor of foodservice machine parts in the United States. FMP continues to grow steadily, with 2002 showing a double-digit growth in revenue over the previous year.

The Business Challenge

As a result of its continued growth and expansion, FMP realized a new communications system was essential. The company’s existing Siemens switch was designed to manage only ten simultaneous calls at the receptionist’s console. Once the call limit was reached, other callers dialing in heard a constant ring, but no answer. Since FMP has based its business on customer service and depends on a live receptionist to greet callers, the capacity of the old switch was not sufficient to meet FMP’s needs. IT Director Bob Fisher knew that they were losing business as a result, and made upgrading the old system a business priority.

In addition to greater capacity, Fisher recognized the need for better contact center management via enhanced reporting. Since the contact center, which handles calls for sales and service, is the most integral part of FMP’s business, more effective, efficient center operations would certainly lead to optimum customer service. Reporting in the old environment was tedious and time-consuming, and reports could not be saved; after printing a compiled report, the data was lost. In addition, statistics were primarily calculated by hand, and only the contact center manager knew how to manipulate the data to get the figures necessary to make sound operational decisions. Clearly, a better system was needed.

The Solution

In early 2002, the Avaya IP Office solution was introduced to Fisher as a possible answer to his business needs. Though not yet available in the U.S., Avaya felt that FMP would be an ideal candidate for a beta test site of IP Office. Fisher viewed a demo of the IP406, and was impressed with the software-based flexibility and the quality of the system, which is important in a call center environment. Call centers, unlike traditional offices, handle a much higher volume of calls each day, making a high-quality, durable telephone system a necessity.

"During my search for a solution, I looked at four or five different vendors," said Fisher. "When I saw the Avaya IP Office system, it looked professional and like it was built to last. And since the system is software-based, it has limitless capability."

As a follow-up to the IP Office demonstration, a project plan was developed for Fisher that detailed the IP Office implementation process, from design through post-implementation support. After considering his options with various vendors, Fisher felt strongly that the IP Office solution was right for FMP. In addition to the flexibility and scalability that the platform offers, it was also simple to administer and fit both the FMP facility and budget. Fisher decided to test the product, and a late February 2002 cutover was planned.

IP406 flexibility eases transition

After using their Siemens phone system for over fourteen years, Fisher describes getting the new system as somewhat of a culture shock.

"I had some pretty confused employees on my hands. People wanted the system to work just like the old switch had. When it didn’t, they couldn’t see the benefits, only the differences it made in their work habits," explained Fisher. "But I knew the capabilities of the IP Office system and the benefits it would provide, if given an opportunity."

Through the beta period, Avaya technicians worked closely with Fisher to mimic ways that users worked on the old system while adding features that the new system offered.

"As the first U.S. beta site for the IP Office, I knew that there would be some issues to work through," Fisher said. "But there was no doubt in my mind that this was the right solution for FMP. "

Avaya technicians worked to address each and every challenge that arose during the beta test. Although Fisher was convinced of the system’s merits, other management representatives and employees were less than sure. As a result, there was a demanding task ahead; to communicate the merits of the system and address the questions of every management team member and employee at FMP.

The Avaya BusinessPartner who sold the solution met with every FMP management representative and employee, in groups of 20, to address the issues and discuss the merits of the system. After a day of such meetings, all were convinced of the IP406’s merits, and the decision to keep the system was made.

"Our team made the right decision, to stay with Avaya," Fisher said. "The IP Office solution is a goldmine product for small to mid-sized businesses, and I knew that FMP would benefit by using it."

During the second implementation, Avaya was at FMP daily ensuring that issues were solved and that employees were re-trained.

IP406 Supports Dramatic Growth in Agent Productivity

The new IP406 system has proven to be quite a workhorse for FMP, offering major productivity gains. Before the IP Office solution, FMP’s contact center handled approximately 1,000 calls daily. On the third day after the new implementation, the call center was receiving 1,300 calls per day without incident. Now, the contact center averages approximately 1,500 calls daily, or 50 percent more calls than before the implementation, and the system has successfully managed up to 2,000 incoming calls during one day, doubling the volume handled previously.

Due to this growth in call volume, Fisher recently upgraded to the IP412, which offers FMP even greater call capacity and additional ports. The upgrade was easy; Fisher used the IP406 software configuration and simply swapped the IP406 hardware module for the IP412 unit. This scalability offers FMP significant investment protection, as the company can upgrade to a higher capacity unit at any time without a forklift upgrade – with only a small module exchange, FMP added 56 additional ports onto its IP Office system.

The IP Office system’s Auto Attendant feature is also critical to the company’s growth. Using the Auto Attendant, the FMP receptionist can handle all incoming calls as they are answered, without having to put someone on hold. Additionally, by using a second reception console, any call center agent can log into the system and back up the main receptionist on a busy day. Using such features allows FMP to extend this personal touch to customers, without losing calls.

The Avaya IP Office call reporting functions are much more powerful and easier to use than anything FMP had available before. The call center manager pulls, on average, eight reports daily to assess agents’ performance and decide on changes in workflow or where additional training might be needed. The contact center managers can easily view all call center activity through a quick glance at a monitor on his desk. Having such in-depth reports at their fingertips has provided FMP managers with immeasurable benefits, improving productivity through better workflow, goal setting, and training.

Scalable Solution Offers Future Vision

In the future, Fisher is considering an implementation of skills-based routing to better serve customers, by providing agents that have in-depth knowledge of particular products to answer questions or resolve issues. Additionally, he hopes to offer "click to chat" eAgents on the FMP Web site to suit customers that prefer strictly electronic communication. Fisher is also contemplating connecting FMP’s New Jersey headquarters to its Las Vegas warehouse via the IP Office IP networking capability. In the longer term, Fisher hopes to explore IP applications in greater depth, and also hopes to implement wireless phones for warehouse workers.

"The system does what you need today, and what you don’t know you’ll need tomorrow," Fisher stated. "It has the flexibility to act as a very simple telephone switch, or very sophisticated, converged communications system, depending on your company’s needs."

Ultimately, the Avaya IP Office solution has proven itself at FMP. While employees are still adjusting to the system, none can deny the powerful tool that they’ve been given. Fisher’s decision to choose Avaya was best for his company, and he learned valuable lessons in the process.

"Change is tough. My advice for anybody making a business change is to take employees’ needs and concerns into consideration, and make certain that adequate training and documentation is in place," said Fisher. "I did that with my implementation and all has gone smoothly, mainly because this is an amazing product. It’s more than a phone system ... it’s a computer, and it offers the flexibility and limitless options that a software-driven machine provides."

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 Franklin Machines needed a solution that would optimize communications and customer service with scalable call capacity, better contact management, enhanced productivity, and more powerful reporting functionality. Solution * Avaya¿ IP 406, upgraded to Avaya¿ IP412 * Compact Call Center * Voice Mail Pro * Contact Manager * PC-based Phone Management Solution Results Contact center now averages approximately 1,500 calls daily, or 50 percent more calls than before the implementation. Scalability offers investment protection, as the company can upgrade to a higher capacity unit at any time without a forklift upgrade.   More powerful and easy-to-use call handling and reporting features.