Missed calls can lose businesses surprisingly large amounts of money. They’re bad for morale and customer retention too. The features of modern telephony systems allow you to provide a much better customer experience

1. MOVING
ON UPHow agile telephony can improve business performance

2. Imagine if every week,
robbers burst into every
one of your sites and stole...
The board might have
something to say about that.
£2,000

3. But if the culprit’s an ancient
system rather than a man in a
mask, many businesses don’t
give it the same attention.

4. According to recent research,
the average abandoned
call loses a business
£1,200

5. One retailer was losing
£2,000 a week over
130 sites. The research
shows that for small
to medium sized
enterprises, if a
customer can’t get in
touch for 24 hours,
the average loss to the
business is £9,000.

6. It can even be as
high as £20,000.
And in some sectors,
call abandonment
rates exceed 35%.

7. Calls to your business will include inbound
sales or sales opportunities, or calls from
existing customers. However, getting a call
answered is just the start. You need to get
it to the right person... and fast.

8. There are lots of ways to get in touch...
but phone calls are still important.
46% 58%55%
of customers prefer
phone-based
customer service for
complex issues.
are frustrated
by inconsistent
experience across
channels.
of consumers have
decided not to make
a purchase after poor
customer service.

9. 53% 58% 51%25%
of customers are
irritated if they
can’t speak to a
real person right
away.
of customers
say they will
never use a
company again
after a negative
experience.
say they have
switched to
rivals after a
poor customer
service
experience.
switch to rivals
because they are
“tired of being
kept on hold”.
Sources: American Express and Accenture

10. A recent report concludes
that switching rates are
highest among retailers,
cable and satellite
providers, and retail banks.

11. If this isn’t enough,
there are also some big
changes coming down
the road.

12. BT are very clear that in the UK,
ISDN will be withdrawn by 2025.
The end is coming for analogue
phone lines (PSTN) as well, with
plans to turn off all analogue
telephony now announced.

13. This is all important stuff, but telephony is
so often neglected in favour of more exciting
projects. The result is that IT managers are left
with outdated systems that are hard to change
and provide little or no reporting to the
business on how calls are being managed.

14. Older systems are
often site-based as
well, and don’t provide
easy options for remote
management, or
reporting across all your
sites, from any location,
for anyone you need.

15. However, the chance to
change is here. Cloud
systems have transformed
telephony in a very
short space of time.
Businesses that know this
are reaping the rewards
and often stealing their
rivals’ customers.

16. The hardware was very outdated
and if it went down at any point,
we would have no alternatives for
communicating effectively with
our employees and customers
– something that would cost us
dearly in lost productivity hours.”
Tony Serratore, IT Manager for Penlon
“
THEN

17. Our staff are more able than ever to
work remotely with more effective
communication channels available
from any location. Employees have full
visibility on the status of their co-workers
(available, busy, offline etc.), and can
quickly chat to them through individual
dialling codes or instant messages.”
Tony Serratore, IT Manager for Penlon
“
NOW

18. What
exactly are
we talking
about?

19. We’re talking about a system
that encompasses everything:
A telephony system that works for your
teams, wherever they are, keeping
them in contact and productive.
Handsets
Smartphones
PC softphones
Mobile apps
Static and
travelling
employees,
home, flexible
and mobile
working.

20. We’re talking about a
single central console
that manages everything
and provides exceptional
insight into bottlenecks
and resource allocation.
This both streamlines
administration and
provides reporting and
insight your managers
will love.

21. We’re talking about the
ability to add new users or
entire teams at the touch
of a button and to redeploy
resources in an instant.

22. We’re talking about call recording,
and regulatory compliance
made easy across multiple
platforms and premises, and easy
integration into CRM systems.

23. And we’re talking about
a consistent image
to your customers
no matter where the
person they are talking
to is based, or what
devices they are using.

24. What we’re
not talking
about

25. We’re not talking about
throwing bodies, hardware
or money at the issue.

26. We’re not talking about
expensive upgrades.
As the technology evolves,
it’s updated without cost
or chaos, and billed on a
per user basis. This is the
flexibility of cloud telephony.

27. It’s called Hosted Voice, and it brings
all the benefits of the cloud to all your
communications:
And you’re always in
complete control.
Flexibility
Scalability
Reliability
Affordability

28. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Telephony is an
essential part of the
customer satisfaction
story.
Old PBXes weren’t
built for the modern,
mobile, flexible
workplace.
PSTN and ISDN have
reached end of life,
it’s time to change.

29. Ageing telephony can
deter customers and
frustrate your teams.
Better reporting
means better use
of resources and
insight to drive better
customer experience.
Hosted solutions
offer exceptional
scalability, flexibility,
and reliability.

30. Click here
To find out more about how the
next generation of communications
tools can help your organisation