Davcor

Davcor Streamlines Resources with Hosted VoIP

Davcor had been utilising a VoIP system for 11 years before switching to M5 Networks Australia’s Hosted VoIP phone system. Davor saw immediate results which have directly translated to an increase in their bottom line profit. Within the first month, Davcor have paid for their phone system through the life of the contract.

Davcor is a successful diversified hardware and software company in the security industry. The various divisions of the company manage several brands that Davcor holds exclusive relationships with.

Davcor’s CEO Marc Cohen was no stranger to the benefits of VoIP.

“We had been using a phone system that we ran internally for about 11 years, but it was such a hassle to maintain ourselves. The equipment kept failing, and it didn’t offer a lot of flexibility,” he said.

“We did try to contract out the maintenance of the system in the last two years, but that didn’t stop the equipment from failing,” he added.

“We also wanted to change certain things with regard to the programming, but there were too many compromises we had to make.” - Cohen

“In the end we decided that to get the flexibility we wanted, we would have to look at a new system.”

Challenge: Call centres spread across various locations

Davcor has five offices across Australia. The current VoIP system was not providing adequate efficiency in the call flow between offices.

“I’d have a situation where the call centre based in Melbourne was inundated, and the call centres in Sydney and Adelaide were not seeing the same call volume. There needed to be a better way to distribute calls,” Cohen said.

The solution: Hosted IP phone system

Cohen turned to Google to search for a system that would best suit Davcor’s needs.

“We were looking for a VoIP phone system that was hosted. We didn’t want a repeat of the previous experience we had managing a phone system. VoIP is a very complex technology, and you need to make sure that it’s in the hands of experts who can make the technology do what you need it to do,” he said.

“We compared M5’s hosted VoIP system to a couple of other hosted solutions, and M5’s seemed the simplest, most hassle-free way of getting what we needed out of the technology.”

In January 2012, Davcor’s head office was first brought onto M5’s hosted VoIP system, followed by the remaining seven sites. Over the first three days, the old system kept running while staff were trained on how to use the new system. M5’s account managers ran training sessions for all sites over these few days.

“The whole installation process was quite complex, one of the reasons for this being that we have eight sites and 60 staff to bring onto the new system. M5 were happy to work during non- business hours so that there would be no disruption to our customers, and so that it would be a simple transition for our staff,” commented Cohen.

Benefit: Working with experts in hosted IP telephony

Davcor no longer has to worry about equipment failing, or managing the system themselves. M5’s hosted VoIP system is truly fully managed, from the deskphone to remotely managed switches and routers.

“So far we’ve had no issues with any of the equipment we have on site. Compared to what we had on site before, in fact, we have much less equipment, and nothing that we need to manage ourselves,” Cohen said.

This means that instead of having to worry about disruptions or maintaining the system, Davcor can focus on their core business.

“Having run our own system for some time, we did have some equipment that we thought we could re-use, but in consultation with M5, we decided to follow their recommendations. VoIP is not a simple technology, and it needs the best equipment for optimum reliability. This is not an area in which to be cutting corners,” Cohen advised.

“M5’s system is also one of the only truly fully managed systems in the market. Other companies either don’t manage certain aspects of the system, or they ask us to deal with other partner organisations, who may charge us a fee. With our phone system, we only deal with M5,” he added.

Benefit: Immediate savings

Davcor effectively run an inbound call centre environment. M5 provides Davcor with reports around the activity of these inbound agents.

“These reports give me information I require to make sure that our call centre runs at the optimum levels: average wait time that customers experience, hold times, number of calls answered by staff, and so on,” Cohen said.

This reporting has allowed Davcor to identify underperforming staff and streamline call centre staff.

Davcor has also implemented skill-based routing for all of their inbound numbers, allowing the most skilled staff in a certain product to take calls first, then allowing overflow calls to be passed on. As Davcor deals with various products, each staff member is ranked by expertise. Davcor’s dedicated M5 account manager worked closely with Cohen to organise and coordinate the call flows.

“We’re very pleased with what M5 has been able to provide us, and they’re constantly working with us to try and improve processes. They also take our feedback and requests seriously and try to come up with a solution for us,” commented Cohen.

“Going with M5 was the right decision for our company. We no longer have to worry about the system failing, and we have reporting tools in place that provide the business intelligence we need to ensure that we are as efficient as possible. I would highly recommend that SMBs look to M5 for their business phone system,” he concluded.