Leveraging the cloud to improve operational efficiency

Euphoria Telecom has implemented its innovative business phone system at SA Tyre Distributors, the biggest wholesaler of tyres in South Africa representing all premium brands and over 2000 resellers.
SA Tyre Distributors’ call centre has grown organically over the years to meet increased sales demands. However, with such a large staff complement in the call centre and very few tools to review business processes and team productivity, management recognised that some changes needed to be made.
The initial assessment of the call centre operations revealed significant limitations on workforce productivity as a result of restrictive infrastructure. In an effort to secure the business for future growth, the company appointed a call centre manager to update redundant and inefficient business processes.
SA Tyre Distributors call centre manager Wayne Bennett did a full audit of the company’s call centre operations and at the time, it was determined that the infrastructure was unstable and highly restrictive, therefore limiting the productivity of the workforce.
He says the most resource intensive and inefficient part of their infrastructure was an outdated, analogue business telephony system. “Still running off expensive hard lines with an on-site PABX, the system did not allow flexibility or transparency within the call centre, making it hard to pick out where operational snags could be easily rectified.”
Since the implementation of Euphoria’s Cloud-based business telephony system, SA Tyre Distributors has experienced phenomenal improvement in its call centre operations. The solution is innovative and offers the business full control over the telephone system.
Euphoria Telecoms is provider of an innovative, cloud-based, cost effective business telephone system that offers unprecedented control and automated operational efficiency. The solution offers any business a truly simple approach to managing communications across an increasingly decentralised or mobile workforce. Seamless integration and automation make it simple for businesses to access insights, reports and improve efficiency of communications.
“From my desktop, I am now able to view call costs for any time range, access call recordings, produce data reports and customise extensions and user profiles for telephone access. Moving over to the Euphoria telephone system has given me carte blanche access to critical information pertaining to the call centre, where workforce limitations and inefficiencies existed,” he explains.
He says one of the major recurring problems was incorrect orders being returned on a daily basis, it cost the business a lot of time and money. Without a proper telephone system, SA Tyre Distributors could not identify whether the problem was in its sales department or on the client side.
“With the new system, I can easily track the call recording, find the problem source and remedy the situation. It has greatly reduced our operating cost. Euphoria’s telephone system does not require heavy infrastructure setup and expensive monthly line rentals for a function as simple as calling our clients,” he adds.
“I can easily produce reports about which users are the heaviest in call usage and then justify the costs to our financial manager with credible and true data. I can do all of this without searching through old fashioned phone bills and waiting months until I can get my hands on the correct itemised billing.”
Companies are not always aware of all their operational inefficiencies until there is data and insight into how the business ‘does business’. Without the accurate information, it is impossible for a business to find solutions to these problems and manage accountability at a granular level, a huge achievement for any business with any more than five users.
Euphoria solves this universal problem by putting the telephone system in the business’s hands and offering full transparency. This ensures businesses can make informed decisions, a key factor to great business management.
Accountability and workforce management becomes very simple with ‘user-extension reports’, providing insight into activity and productivity of each user. Sales and client communications, an important part of a sales driven business, can be implemented and monitored consistently using the call recording feature.
Bennett says the new system helped them bust a few myths. “For example, we now realise that only two percent of calls require agents to have an in-depth knowledge of tyres, while the majority of calls are orders, where customers already know what they want. This knowledge has helped us train our staff correctly and allocate our resources within the call centre more effectively. Customers who have more complex queries are quickly transferred to sales agents already trained to assist them.
“Functionality of the system is incredible. The ability to identify the discrepancy and then understand it straight away is unheard of. The cost of Euphoria’s solution was considerably less than any other system, it was a no brainer. Our telephone costs have reduced drastically and our productivity has improved,” he says.