Established in 1997, Blue Connections have grown its business by helping customers grow theirs. The company partners with its clients to tailor technology solutions that support desired business outcomes and to allow them to focus on what they do best. In doing so, Blue Connections designs, procures, implements, services and manages end-to-end technology solutions, specialising in EUC, managed services, networking, security & comms, infrastructure, virtualisation & availability and cloud solutions.
The Challenge: Customer support issues magnified during pandemic
For over five years, Blue Connections relied on an on-premises Mitel platform to support its contact centre team. While this had worked well, as the company grew the platform’s integration limitations became evident.
“We were increasingly finding it to be inflexible and challenging to manage,” says Paul Wilson, Blue Connections Practice Manager – Networks, Security and Comms.
The situation really came to a head during the early weeks of the COVID-19 lockdowns, when staff were suddenly required to work from home. It became very difficult to manage remote contact centre workers, to ensure that customer support could be provided in a timely manner.
“We also found the management of multiple communications platforms caused inconsistencies across the business, so a move to a single form of communication was vital in moving to another provider,” Wilson said.
The team decided that it was time to find a replacement platform. The Blue Connections IT team went to market and researched multiple vendors, and conferred with distribution partners, and BlueChip Infotech recommended 8x8 as an ideal solution.
The Solution: An 8x8 platform Solution with 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams integration
After evaluating a range of options, Wilson and his team decided that 8x8 was the best choice. Working with an expert at 8x8, they were able to design a personalised phased migration plan and the new platform was up and running in less than four months. The plan involved starting with the Managed Service Desk team in the contact centre, followed by the Enterprise Service Desk team, and then the rest of the organization.
“Our staff were already making extensive use of Microsoft Teams for the backend users and 8x8’s tight Teams integration made it very compelling,” Wilson says. “This also reduced the level of user training that was required.”
Within the contact centre, 35 agents were deployed on 8x8 integrated with Microsoft Teams. “The entire shift from Mitel to 8x8 was very seamless,” says Wilson. “Staff found it very intuitive to use and there was no disruption to our daily operations.”
Lead Engineer Kerry Argiriou who worked closely with 8x8 Professional Services on the deployment, says “the solution was delivered in line with Blue Connections deployment methodology which made the project run smoothly and on time”.
The Result: Contact centre agents equipped to provide optimal customer experiences.
With 8x8 fully operational, Blue Connections was quickly enjoying some significant benefits. Contact centre agents could readily manage call queues and divert callers as required. Also, 8x8’s sophisticated analytics allow contact centre managers to view call wait times and determine whether more agents are required. Interactions can also be monitored to ensure customer satisfaction remains high.
“It is also now much easier to onboard new contact centre agents,” says Wilson. “Because 8x8 is cloud based and secure with Single-sign on and Multi-Factor authentication, all configuration changes can be done via a browser from any location which has significantly improved flexibility.”
Additionally, Blue Connection now has full redundancy when it comes to telecommunications. If an issue arises with Teams, their staff can use 8x8 and continue working.
“Everyone now has a single form of communication across the company,” says Wilson. “This has improved our efficiency and ensures we can provide the best level of service to our clients at all times.”
Blue Connections has also signed a commercial agreement with 8x8 to act as an official sales partner. “We are ready to go on this front and expect to have our first customers on board in coming months,” he says. “8x8 complements the other networking services that we provide to our clients. It will give us the opportunity to deliver voice as well as data services which is something we have previously not been in a position to do.”
