Most businesses can expect to experience a high number of incoming and outgoing calls, but in the case of Swift Research, which carries out market research for a variety of companies, calls are a central part of its business. To improve flexibility, capacity and cost management, Swift has recently made the decision to switch to a ‘business-grade’ VoIP service from 8el. This move has enabled the company to dramatically reduce its call costs and double its network capacity without involving major investment. In addition, it has given Swift the flexibility to add more sophisticated services, such as remote listening-in and call recording.

Wetherby-based Swift is one of the UK’s leading independent market research organisations. Nick Mellor is Technical Operations Director and is responsible for all matters regarding technology, including phone services. Says Nick, “We experimented with a few carriers but found that the cheap ones were particularly bad on service: if calls don’t connect first time, then our teams waste a lot of time trying to get through. We also wanted to reduce the time and effort spent on managing telecommunications: the IT team has more than enough other things to do.”

The breakthrough came several years ago, when Swift made the decision to switch to voice and data services provided by 8el. “With 8el, we just have one point of contact for all our telecom services. It also helps us to look at the whole of our telecommunications spend and work with us to develop a cost-effective call plan that enables us to predict costs.”

“We’ve been with 8el for several years now and I’ve been extremely pleased with the level of service they provide. As 8el provides a managed service with remote monitoring, they tell us about any problems, not vice versa. 8el gives us the reliability we need.”

The move to VoIP

Nick Mellor also wanted to improve the flexibility and range of call-related services that could be incorporated into the company’s operations. In particular, he wanted to see if there was a way to improve call recording, which is an integral part of most market research firms’ methodology. “Previously, we had to record calls, using an MP3 player attached to the phone, then download the content to a computer, then transfer it to CD. It was very time-consuming.”

At the same time, 8el was developing its Callport VoIP service, which is based on next generation networking (NGN) IP-Centrex technology and again, is provided as a managed service, but which also has a web-based interface that the end user can use to administer services.

Flexible services

8el was able to offer Swift not only IP Telephony, but more intuitive call recording and other services, such as remote ‘listening in’ (a technique often used for training or quality control purposes).

In effect, this means that Callport enables the end user to activate tools such as call recording via the browser interface with just a couple of keyboard strokes. Says Nick, “The functionality is fantastic and it is going to save us time and money. Users just log into the browser and it all happens automatically. This also means there is no room for human error.”

Capacity and cost

Potential cost savings and the ability to increase the capacity of the network were other drivers for Swift to choose VoIP. “With 8el’s Callport, our local and national calls are free. It also doubled our telecoms capacity at the same time and it is future proof: 8el can increase our capacity as we continue to grow. Before we started working with 8el, our voice and data capacity was at its limit.”

8el rolled out its Callport VoIP service across approximately 120 desktops within Swift Research during the late summer of 2007, including the call centre as well as other employees in another building next-door. The system is now fully bedded in and operational. The next step for Nick is to look at how further cost savings can be achieved. “We still have a number of BT lines as back-up, but I want to work with 8el to see how we can reduce these further.”

Results

So was the move to VoIP worth it? Concludes Nick, “Switching to 8el VoIP was a big step for us, but it has enabled us to increase capacity without a big investment and at the same time, has given us the potential to add more services and reduce our annual call costs. We made the right move.”

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About Swift Research: Wetherby-based Swift is one of the UK’s leading independent market research. Established in 1985, it provides a full complement of qualitative and quantitative techniques. A wide range of facilities include a 65-station telephone call centre with Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), staffed by interviewers who are making market research calls all the time.

About 8el: About 8el

Since 1999, 8el has been a communications provider specialising in bespoke solutions for businesses, including IP telephony, wide area network and ISP services. To date, the company supports more than 120 companies with its comprehensive portfolio of voice and data communications services.