Use A Consultative Approach To Win VoIP/UC Projects
By providing proactive, strategic recommendations, this voice/data communications solutions provider won a VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol)/UC (unified communications) install for a large financial services company and its ongoing business.
Communications VAR SOURCE, Inc. is proof that companies that provide their customers with a consultative approach to problem solving can win business away from resellers who don't. SOURCE, a nationwide provider of multivendor voice/data communications solutions, recently won a contract to upgrade the contact center of a Dallas-based financial services company which routinely deals with a high volume of incoming communications from a variety of sources. It had been dissatisfied with a contact center installed by its previous solutions provider that consisted of a number of separate pieces of hardware and applications. As a result, the company was struggling with technology that was cumbersome to use and was not able to get several applications it believed could improve its efficiency, including 'presence' (the ability for employees to view the locations and availabilities of colleagues to select the best method for reaching them).
UC Helps Your Clients Communicate Efficiently
The financial services company sought a solutions provider that would take a more strategic and proactive interest in its business. It wanted a partner to not only install a more functional contact center, but also to work with the company after the sale to recommend and implement technologies to enhance the company's overall operations. According to Kevin Grantham, director, strategic delivery at SOURCE, this is precisely SOURCE's approach. "We work with our customers to make sure they get a return on their technology investments, and then we continuously look for ways they can improve their business operations," he explains. The financial services company felt that SOURCE's approach was what it needed.
The company wanted to protect as much of its existing technology investment as possible. "To do so, we upgraded the company's communications infrastructure to a VoIP-based system," says Grantham. "We worked with the customer's IT group to upgrade its Cisco Systems data infrastructure and convert its Avaya voice communications platform to VoIP. We also upgraded the company's compliance call recording system to VoIP. And as part of the project, we developed a business continuity architecture including a disaster recovery center."
SOURCE installed Zeacom's VoIP-based contact center and UC solution. The Zeacom call center centralizes the handling of the company's large number of inbound inquiries and provides interactive voice response (IVR), unified messaging, call center management, multimedia integration, and reporting. UC, which integrates the many forms of communication that business people use every day, including telephony (landline, fax, mobile), e-mail, voice messaging, conferencing, instant messaging, and desktop collaboration tools, allows the financial services company to treat communications it receives via e-mails and other media with the same consideration as phone calls.
In addition to the goal of streamlining the contact center, the Zeacom solution also allows the company to upgrade the contact center in the future by adding applications as needed. "Since the solution is modular and scalable, the customer can start with the basic contact center and add modules as the company's needs change," says Grantham.
Sell The Benefits Of Improved Communications
Adding UC capability was important to the financial services company. "UC enables communications of all types to get sent to the right people, wherever they are," says Grantham. "Companies are often inefficient because customers get sidelined — in voice mail or e-mail — waiting for the right person to become available. Then the problem or issue becomes stale, or it escalates into a more-difficult-to-resolve situation. UC can help companies in all verticals avoid those problems."
Grantham says that the key to selling UC is to help companies understand the efficiencies they can achieve with it. "You have to show them how it can fundamentally change the way they do business, interact with their customers, and make use of their employee resources," he says. "The benefits of UC are much more profound than simply saving money on long-distance calls." By demonstrating the potential future benefits of VoIP and UC, SOURCE won the financial services company's immediate business and also became its new go-to solutions provider.