Based in Essex, Ghost Enterprises is a growing business, providing IT solutions to small and medium-sized companies in the UK. Its services range from cloud services and hosting, to data backup and 24/7 online support.
The Challenge: Booming Business, Held Back
When the coronavirus pandemic struck the UK, Ghost Enterprises found its services in high demand. “Overnight, clients were scrambling to work from home,” explains Managing Director Grant Hulley. “We could set up their VPNs, remote machines, provide datacentre services, and deliver the business continuity they needed.”
However, Ghost’s own communications were fraying at the edges. While some consultants moved speedily between client sites, others had to be tethered to the office phones — simply to take customer calls and pass on messages. It was stifling the business.
Ghost Enterprises relied heavily on Microsoft Teams for its back-office communications. But it needed an intelligent phone system to work alongside, so staff could take calls anywhere.
“Previously, our phone provider had promised us an app. But six months later, we were still waiting — and so we opted to use Microsoft Teams as a workaround to reach colleagues. But this meant we couldn’t make phone calls from Teams in an efficient way,” says Hulley.
“This wasn’t just frustrating, it was hitting our bottom line. Some clients were leaving because they found communications difficult.”
The Solution: “Lighting up” the Teams Dialer
Hulley and his colleagues discovered 8x8 on the web. They discussed their objectives with the 8x8 team and were guided to a solution that enabled calling from Microsoft Teams.
“8x8 provided the communication solution we needed,” he says. “Calls could be made using the Microsoft Teams dialer — and the 8x8 app gave us an auto attendant, voicemail, and other advanced voice calling features not available with Microsoft Teams. And it worked with Windows or Linux on our laptops as well as on our iOS or Android phones.”
Implementation Proves Quick and Easy
Ghost Enterprises went live with 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams in under 4 weeks. The company’s existing phone numbers were ported across to 8x8 and employees could start taking advantage of a wealth of advanced calling features injected into Microsoft Teams.
“I’ve worked with a lot of phone providers,” says Hulley. “And there’s no doubt that 8x8 is the easiest I’ve seen for installation and set up for a cloud phone system that works with Teams. They showed me how to use the admin portal to add Teams users, I could configure the system easily myself and show my colleagues how it’s done.”
The Results: Seamless Communications Achieved
With 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, Ghost Enterprises can now serve clients from anywhere.
“The whole system works brilliantly for us — and the staff love it. The call quality is excellent and making, or receiving phone calls using Teams is simple. If we miss a call, it is routed to the auto attendant and then onto voicemail. It’s made us a more responsive organization.”
