1. MI
VIA - Voice
Charity Solution Case Study
Customer: Migrant Help
Website: http://www.migranthelpuk.org
Customer Size: 200
Country or Region: United Kingdom
Industry: Charity
Partner: VIA
Website: www.joinvia.com
Customer Profile
Migrant Help delivers support and advice
services to migrants in the UK. It provides
individuals with the resources and
support they need to find safety, access
appropriate services and information and
develop greater independence. The
charity delivers a wide-range of services
to new asylum claimants and refugees,
EU nationals, foreign national prisoners
and victims of human trafficking.
MSFT Software and Services
 Microsoft Office
− Hosted Skype for Business (VIA)
 Office 365
− SharePoint
− Exchange
− Dynamics
Executive Summary
UK charity Migrant Help deployed a cloud-based
communications system from VIA to increase efficiency
within its call centre and to boost workforce connectivity
across the entire organisation.
Challenge
In 2013, Migrant Help decided to build a dedicated call centre in
Dover to supplement the work being delivered at its local advice
centres. The construction of the contact centre provided an
opportunity to overhaul its existing communications systems across
the entire organisation. With plans in place to recruit 40 new call
centre representatives, Migrant Help needed a platform that
allowed employees to efficiently communicate with support staff,
interpreters and colleagues based at other locations.
Solution
The charity was introduced to
VIA through its consulting
partner Shore Tech Systems
and was impressed with the
company’s tailored telephony
and communications solution
that is hosted in the cloud. The
VIA Voice solution - which
incorporates Microsoft Skype
for Business - was personalised
to fit the requirements of
Migrant Help and VIA’s
developers built additional
bespoke functionality to provide
the charity with a product that
ticked all the boxes.
The platform allows staff to
talk, instant message and email
each other across a variety of
devices, such as landlines,
smartphones, PCs and tablets.
Significant efficiency gains have
also been achieved by
deploying a conferencing
feature, where call centre
representatives can draft in an
interpreter or a colleague, to
provide extra support or
assistance when required. As a
result, the charity has
drastically reduced the average
time it takes to provide
assistance.
The solution boasts a multiple
language-based routing system
that allows asylum seekers to
receive information in a
language they can understand.
In addition, Migrant Help has
deployed a feature that delivers
automatic audio messages,
providing callers with regulatory
information in their chosen
language.
Testimonial
Iain McArthur, Director of
Corporate Services and Deputy
CEO, Migrant Help, said: “Due
to the increase in efficiency on
the phones, and by reducing
the unnecessary phone calls
and emails to ascertain the
availability of colleagues and
interpreters, we have seen our
call handling traffic grow to
over 40,000 calls per month.
Meanwhile, our staff have
rapidly adopted the new
technology and we have seen
the use of instant messaging
grow tenfold – cutting down the
amount of time-consuming
emails people have to respond
to.”