The Solution:
Following an extensive selection process with multiple vendors, Nisa Today's
selected a Cisco Systems Unified Communications (UC) deployment delivered by
Nettitude. The Local Area Network infrastructure in the new office was built
first, consisting of high speed Cisco Catalyst 3750 series switches and Cisco
1200 Series Wireless Access Points. Connections back to the existing offices
were established over optical fibre. Telephony services, provided by a high
availability Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) cluster and Unity
Connection voicemail were then deployed to serve users within both the new
and existing offices. Integration between the CUCM cluster and the existing
telephone systems was configured.
Cisco IP Contact Centre Express was then deployed to provide intelligent and
sophisticated inbound call routing for a contact center team of approximately 40
agents. For legal and regulatory requirements, all calls into the contact center
had to be recorded. A Cybertech Myracle call recording appliance was selected for
this requirement and deployed during the implementation.
Nokia Intellisync software was deployed on to Nokia E series handsets, allowing
internal users to receive telephone calls on mobile devices over the new wireless
infrastructure, regardless of their physical location within any building.
Presence was enabled on the UC solution allowing employees to be able to see the
state of someone before they attempted to contact them. Remote workers were
provisioned with IP based softphones, allowing them to stay in contact with the
main offices utilising VPN connectivity.
The Benefits:
The entire project was successfully delivered against aggressive timescales and
budget requirements. The Cisco UC Solution provided Nisa Today's with a seamless
converged infrastructure that allowed users to be migrated between buildings with
no loss of functionality or service.
The new capabilities of the UC solution have had a massive positive impact. The
number of calls being handled by the contact center increased by over 20% in the
months following go-live by the same number of agents. Average caller waiting times
fell by a similar margin. The Mobility and Presence capabilities of the new system
have led to streamlined and improved communications across the business. Management
of the UC system is largely done in house with no dedicated resources required.
Costs of moves, adds and changes to the system have effectively fallen to zero.
The Call Recording solution has assisted on both dispute resolution and also for
internal training and quality purposes.
Cisco software subscription services included as part of the solution mean that
Nisa Today's are automatically entitled to new software features as they are
released by Cisco at no additional charge. This future proves the investment made
in a fast moving technology environment.
About Nisa Today's:
Nisa-Today's is the UK's largest buying group for independent retail and wholesale
companies. Its commercial objective is to negotiate the lowest cost price of
products and provide the most efficient supply chain for its member companies, by
strategically using their combined turnover powerbase.
The 'Nisa' organisation was formed in 1977 as the 'Northern Independent
Supermarkets Association' within the retail industry. There are now in excess
of 950 members operating over 6,000 stores making up the Nisa retail business.
The group is also experiencing great success with the rollout of its two branded
fascias - 'Nisa' for retailers and 'Today's' for the retail stores of wholesalers.
This allows participating retailers to benefit from a nationally recognised image,
store layout and merchandising formats providing consumers with a consistently
high standard of products, range and service.
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