Telephony - Pennine drives hauliers' savings

One of the country’s leading hauliers is motoring swiftly towards payback on a new business telephone system after Pennine Telecom identified massive savings on its landline and call costs.

When growth meant it needed to upgrade its existing and ageing Avaya INDeX 200 communication platform Padiham-based Fagan & Whalley called in data and telecommunications specialist, Pennine. As well as recommending the Avaya’s IP Office 500 system to the haulier, the company suggested it carry out a free audit of the Lancashire company’s telephone bills.

“Pennine did a very thorough and professional examination of our costs even before we’d decided on the hardware,” reports Fagan & Whalley’s Commercial Director Stephen Fagan. “They identified we could make a substantial saving, hence the decision to invest. The saving does fund the hardware so the upgrade is, in a way, self-financing.”

With call patterns and usage varying throughout the year it’s too early to confirm exactly just how substantial those savings will be although Pennine’s analysis suggests they may be as high as 55 percent.

The upgrade was a necessity so being able to significantly offset the investment cost was a major boon. The old system was nearing end-of-life and with Fagan & Whalley’s continued growth the fact there was no spare capacity on the system for additional extensions was restricting the business. As an existing Pennine customer and knowing it was an Avaya Platinum Connect Partner the haulier trusted the company’s expert judgement on the choice of the IP500 system. “We went across to Pennine’s demonstration suite to see various systems, some more expensive and flashy, some at the lower end of the market. However the IP500 seemed ideally suited to the size of our business. Pennine recommended it and we respected that recommendation.”

Having made that choice Fagan & Whalley then sought the most painless switchover to the new system, mindful that interruptions to day-to-day business must be minimised. “We couldn’t have any disruption to our business during the week so Pennine agreed to come in on a Saturday which helped us enormously. It was all planned and carried out very professionally,” enthuses Mr. Fagan. He’s also impressed with the new system which he reports is much easier to use. “The way we communicate, put calls on hold, the visibility of who’s calling and all those type of things are so much clearer.”

 Impressed with the results of the upgrade and telephony audit Fagan & Whalley then decided to further consolidate its communications with Pennine by handing over its mobiles contract. “It streamlines things,” explains Mr. Fagan. “Pennine were very helpful and professional with the general ‘phone system so we thought it made sense to give them this contract when it came up for renewal.”