CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORYFLEXIBLE COMMUNICATIONS EMPOWERING A MOBILE WORKFORCE

Intrec was looking to take the leap from traditional telephony to a unified communication solution – and it trusted Nexon to take on the challenge.

Founded in 1996, Intrec specialises in commercial fitout, building refurbishment and construction management. With a large mobile workforce and experiencing steady growth, the company wanted to give their people the tools they needed to do their job from any location and from any device.

CONNECTING A MOBILE WORKFORCEIntrec

CONNECT A MOBILE WORKFORCE AND IMPROVE RESPONSE TIMESAs a trusted name in the refurbishment and construction industry, Intrec’s success and growth is founded on delivering value and excellence in every aspect of its service. And with growth, come challenges – particularly for a business with a large mobile workforce.

With more of its staff on the road or on-site on customer projects, Intrec was looking for ways to connect this mobile workforce with the back-office, and with each other. Improving internal and customer response times, and maintaining service excellence, were top priority.

Intrec also recognised that its own team was increasingly seeking better technology options, some of which - such as instant messaging - they were already using outside of work. Helping staff to better integrate work and life is a key objective for the business, and this too became one of the project drivers.

‘Our focus was on improving internal response times and giving our team some time back in their day. It can be very noisy on site and trying to get someone on the line is not easy. So we would resort to email, but often people would not respond until quite late in the day. We wanted to change this,’ said Dennis Wong, Operations Manager at Intrec.

The existing Office 365 environment provided a foundation of flexible productivity tools and the vision was to combine this with a truly mobile telephony and messaging platform.

A HOSTED UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS PLATFORM, INTEGRATING THE BENEFITS OF SKYPE FOR BUSINESSIntrec was already using a hosted telephony platform and wanted to retain the cost and administrative benefits of a hosted model. They also wanted to integrate the new voice functionality with their existing Office 365 productivity and collaboration tools.

The business knew they needed a partner with a proven track record in the unified communications space, and with expertise in providing a

stable and reliable hosted solution. The internal project team explored number of vendors but ultimately turned to Nexon, their existing technology partner, to take on their challenge.

‘We have a longstanding relationship with Nexon. They have helped us scale and have been growing with us. As an existing customer and having attended their Nexon Absolute launch, we felt very comfortable they knew what they were doing and that they were leading the charge with this technology,’ said Dennis Wong.

Before implementing the new solution, Nexon arranged a proof of concept trial of Skype for Business, an offering in the Nexon Absolute unified communications suite. The trial helped Intrec to better visualise the vast mobility benefits the solution could bring to their business.

But even with their preferred partner by their side, and the promise of greater flexibility in their sights, the shift away from a traditional telephony environment was, at-times, overwhelming.

‘We had a lot of initial resistance within the organisation. The idea of losing their handset didn’t appeal to everyone. It took a little while to convince the managers that it wasn’t such a great departure from where we already were. We already had a phone system and Lync – all we were doing is putting these two together,’ added Dennis.

IMPROVED RESPONSIVENESS AND PRODUCTIVITY WITH FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATIONSOnce the decision was made, the implementation timelines were tight. Intrec wanted to use their company conference – which was just three months away - as the launch platform for the new communication solution. Both Intrec and Nexon worked together to make this a reality.

‘Launching at the company conference helped to get the team excited about the new solution. The office based team, those that were very reliant on the phone system, embraced it quickly and were efficiently using the systems in two to three months. The on-site guys took another couple of months, and a year down the track we are really seeing the benefits,’ said Dennis Wong.

2

As an organisation with a large mobile workforce, we wanted to better connect them with the rest of the business – through smarter, more flexible communication options. Nexon’s unified communications platform which integrates Skype for Business was the right fit for the business, and Nexon’s team of passionate technology experts was the right fit for us.

Every engagement with Nexon has been both enjoyable and successful. The unified communications project specifically, has helped us improve response times and provide more communication options to both staff and customers.

Dennis WongOperations Manager, Intrec

To find out how Nexon Absolute can transform the way you connect, interact and collaborate, email us at enquiries@nexon.com.au, visit nexonabsolute.com.au or call 1300 800 000

The most important benefits for Intrec have been the improvement in response times and the flexibility of communication options available to everyone, regardless of their location. The impact on the business and the team has been considerable. Such benefits including:

+ It is now much easier to find and connect with someone. The presence indicator clearly communicates if someone is available and can help determine the best way to contact that person. Sometimes an unobtrusive message is the only way to ensure a quick response – and it may be all that is required to solve a problem.

+ The team can make quicker decisions and fit more into their day. Being able to get a fast response helps in the speed of decision making and therefore in the general flow of customer projects. For Intrec, this has helped to reduce a lot of the frustration associated with waiting and has had a direct impact on the team’s productivity.

+ Training is on the increase while travel costs have been reduced. In the past most of the training was delivered in person, and this often meant travel. Today much of the training (formal and ad-hoc) is delivered through video calls. Not only does this have an impact on the training and travelling costs, but more just-in-time training sessions are now possible.

+ The inherent flexibility has a positive impact on customer experience. Faster internal response times means customer queries can be resolved quickly. Direct in-dial numbers are now in place and can help customers reach the right person at first attempt, and the use of video conferencing has improved the dynamic of remote customer meetings.

+ Staff have the tools to do their job, their way. The Intrec team is fully equipped to do their job from any location. This includes the ability to actively, yet remotely, participate in meetings. This may previously have required travel back into the office –needlessly extending a team member’s working day.

THE VISIONThe flexible nature of the Skype for Business platform will enable Intrec to scale as and where it needs to. The advanced Video Conferencing feature is a critical tool for the business, and a key area of future focus.

‘The solution has a lot to offer and we are only scratching the surface in terms of what’s possible. The team is really embracing the technology and we want to continue exploring the different collaboration options. We are already seeing the cost and time savings of video conferencing and want to expand our use of this in the business,’ said Dennis Wong.

‘One thing is for sure, I know that the system and Nexon are ready to grow with us as we need it,’ he added.

Dennis WongOperations Manager, Intrec

The really critical piece is finding the right partner. Unless you have the internal expertise and resources – which is rare – embarking on a project such as this can be a very daunting task. You need to work with someone who has a proven track record in this space. Someone who can help you navigate through the various options and make the implementation simple and seamless.

Words of advice for someone considering a similar project.