Dwell: Working Smarter
Furniture retailer transforms customer engagement with Avaya IP Office™ Contact Centre.
Since upgrading its customer contact operation with Avaya IP Office™ Contact Centre, leading UK furniture retailer, dwell has not only been able to maintain a 100% response rate, but also improve employee performance. Better still, the solution provides an ideal platform for dwell to adopt a true multi-channel approach, as the business grows.
About dwell
dwell was founded in 2003, selling the latest designer furniture at affordable prices. From a single store in Balham, South London, it has now grown to 30 stores across the UK, plus a strong online presence. In August 2014, dwell became part of the DFS Group, fueling further expansion and ensuring it can continue to launch hundreds of new products a year, while maintaining its commitment to personal service.
About Future Voice
Future Voice is an independent communications specialist with a proven pedigree in multi-channel contact centres, working with Avaya and various cloud platforms. By leaving no stone unturned in its approach to solving communications-related issues for its clients, Future Voice consistently recommends the best solution for clients’ businesses.
Future Voice provides commercially competitive packages that improve communications and streamline business processes, while vastly improving the quality of communication with customers and partners. The company’s customer retention is currently over 98% – considerably higher than the industry average.
The Story
“It’s enabling us to work smarter, not harder.” That’s how Viv Livingstone, Customer Care Manager at contemporary furniture retailer dwell, views the Avaya IP Office™ Contact Centre that went live in February 2017. “It’s a massive, massive improvement on our previous solution, for our customers, advisers and for me and the managers.”
High praise indeed for a solution that has only been online for just a few months. Praise that reflects not only the usability of IP Office™ Contact Centre, but also the visibility it provides for Viv and her team.
“I wanted to know more about the calls we receive and how we handle them,” Viv explains. “We needed to be aware if we were missing calls, to introduce skills-based routing and have the ability to coach our advisers.”
“Now we’ve got that, our performance is clearly improving,” she adds.
New premises, new solution
Viv had wanted to upgrade her team from their old contact centre solution for some time, and Avaya IP Office Contact Centre was her preferred option. Avaya business partner Future Voice had arranged a live demo shortly after Avaya first launched the solution, and Viv identified that it would tick all the boxes. Crucially too, unlike some of the other options available, Avaya IP Office Contact Centre could be integrated with dwell’s existing systems – ensuring the change would cost less, and the impact on working practices could be minimised.
The move to new premises – a purpose-built and centrally located distribution centre – provided the opportunity Viv had been seeking to secure business backing for the change. She contacted Future Voice and a full project plan was put in place.
The new premises would benefit from a dedicated Leased Line, direct into the building, meaning overall speed and network capacity increased by around 400%. Working in close partnership with Future Voice, the IP Office Contact Centre was installed on time for Viv’s team to move in. After a brief period of familiarisation, they haven’t looked back.
A better response, every time
From the outset, the impact on everyday performance was clear. “Our SLA is that we answer at least 96% of all customer calls within 30 seconds,” says Viv: “every month, we’re hitting 100%.”
The key has been the extra visibility that Viv and her team receive around call volumes and advisor capacity. “We’re only a team of 16, so when the pressure was on, managers would join in and take calls too,” she explains. However, with more accurate information on call volumes, the system and wallboard displays show capacity that enable the team to be more proactive: “we have a lot more focus and control.”
Equally importantly, the call recording function within IP Office Contact Centre allows her to manage advisor performance more proactively. “I can listen back to calls at a convenient time, and use what I learn to coach the team.” Now, Viv can share tips from her own experience and encourage peer-to-peer learning for both inbound and outbound calling.
Harnessing advanced capabilities
With the solution operating smoothly, the next steps for dwell involve using more of IP Office Contact Centre’s features and capabilities. Skills-based routing is a key opportunity for Viv, despite dwell’s small team, as it will enable staff to specialise in different types of call; another key goal is to move to an integrated multi-channel environment.
“We already offer live chat and manage emails,” says Viv, “but we want to be able to initiate things in calls and give customers that extra level of assistance and interaction.”
dwell has also introduced a simple interactive voice response system, that means all orders are routed through to local stores, who are better placed to advise customers on product choices. “We just want one option, then you hear a human voice”, Viv comments. It’s part of a smoother interaction between the contact Centre and the stores, with SIP trunking now in place to ensure any transfers are smooth and low-cost.
Ready for growth
Store interaction is set to become even more important given dwell’s challenging growth targets, which include increasing the number of stores to over 50 in the next 2 years. That’s one of the reasons it was important that Viv chose a scalable solution.
“We know the Avaya IP Office Contact Centre can effectively double in size,” Viv confirms. “It’s one of the reasons I think it’s a very valuable piece of equipment for businesses of any size: it allows you to build on what you’ve got to meet your immediate needs but also supports your growth.”
Viv and the team plan to work closely with Future Voice to achieve that. “They really work hand in glove with us: whenever we have any issue or need assistance, they respond immediately. I’ve already recommended them – and the Avaya solution – to two other companies.”
Challenges
- Replace an outdated Contact Centre platform
- Improve response times and workforce management
- Enable call recording and training
- Integrate IVR and connect the centre to the stores
- Provide a platform for a true multi-channel contact centre services
Value Created
- 100% accessibility rate – every call is answered
- Enhanced ability to coach advisors and monitor performance
- Scalable solution to support business growth and multi-channel communication
- Improved call management and store interaction
Solutions & Products
- Avaya IP Office™ Contact Center
“Avaya IP Office Contact Centre is a very valuable piece of equipment for businesses of any size: it allows you to build on what you’ve got to meet your immediate needs but also supports your growth.”
“The Avaya solution is enabling us to work smarter, not harder”
Future Voice’s primary aim is to deliver professional, unified communications-led business solutions based on respect, commitment and excellence. We provide true value to our customers by learning everything we can about them and supplying frictionless, future-proof UC and Voice solutions. We speak plainly, translating complicated technology into simple principles that increase agility and empower businesses with seamless collaboration.
We are the communication partner you always wish you had.
