Optimization of business processes with IP telephony and contact center

Christoph Kroschke GmbH, Germany‘s leading solution provider and service partner for automotive services, decided to migrate its old ISDN telephone system to VoIP in conjunction with a Contact Center due to the continuous business growth. With the solution implemented by IP Dynamics, the company could overcome workplace bottlenecks in a timely manner, ensure technical future security for portfolio expansion and enable flexible, location-independent work. „One of the main reasons we wanted to migrate to IP telephony was our rapid business growth,“ said Ingo Mrowka, IT administrator at Kroschke, who is leading the company‘s migration to VoIP. „On one hand our old system with its capacities reached its limits, furthermore we already had confidence in the future security and flexibility of VoIP technology, since it offers us a multitude of functions. We can implement these at any time, for example, if we want to open new business areas and expand our service portfolio.“

Between 2014 and 2017, the company decided for a smooth migration to VoIP both in the business headquarters and successively at important locations, as IP telephony offered high scalability in day-to-day business and future security and also against the background of the approaching ISDN switch-off. Kroschke is now using an IP telephony solution from innovaphone in conjunction with a Communication Center from Voxtron. Thanks to its open system architecture, the VoIP solution innovaphone PBX V12r2 can be scaled as required and easily integrated into existing telephones and telephone systems. The existing Voxtron Contact Center enables the qualification of calls and prioritization with skill-based routing to the appropriate employees as well as reporting of telephone calls. In addition, the integration of further communication channels is possible if the company decides to expand its portfolio. „We already introduced the Communication Center in 2010, and at the same time we have been planning to convert our old ISDN telephone system to IP for a long time. In 2012, we started with a small pilot project of 20 VoIP workstations,“ says Ingo Mrowka. „However, it was important to us that we carry out the changeover in small steps. For a smooth migration in the company headquarters and at important external locations, we were therefore looking for a suitable partner for technical support. In 2014, on the recommendation of Voxtron, the system house IP Dynamics joined the project.“

„When converting to IP telephony, a smooth migration is always advisable instead of changing everything at once,“ explains Joachim Uhsemann, the team leader of VoIP at IP Dynamics and project manager for implementation at Kroschke. „With a smooth migration from old systems to IP telephony, both technologies exist temporarily parallel. Only when everything has been set up and all internal tests have been successful, will the system be completely converted to VoIP. This prevents the complete switch off of the telephone system during normal business operations.“

Kroschke was looking for a mediating solution for the existing contact center to first connect the old ISDN PBX to the contact center and then switch to VoIP step by step. IP Dynamics proposed the innovaphone PBX V12r2 as a VoIP telephone system, as it can be used flexibly and can fully exploit UC possibilities. The existing PBX at Kroschke consisted mainly of hardware, the reason the company wanted to focus on modern software solutions and virtualized telephony. „A highly available solution was to be created for Kroschke, which is why the whole thing was implemented with a master-slave concept,“ says project manager Uhsemann. „Furthermore, devices that were already on the site should be able to remain redundant, and the major retrofitting in the company headquarters should be implemented on a virtualization system.“

The switch to IP telephony was a growing three-phase process that ensured a secure transition. Initially, IP Dynamics expanded the contact center area at company headquarters and set up the innovaphone IP solution as middleware between the old PBX and the Contact Center. After the functionality of the new solution had proven itself, Kroschke decided in the second step to equip several outdoor locations with IP telecommunication systems. Finally, in the third phase in 2017, the decision was taken to fully convert the company headquarters in Ahrensburg. The innovaphone solution was expanded into the leading telephone platform with 600 subscribers including the Contact Center attendants and the entire office telephony, so that the old system could be completely replaced.

Since we are dynamically adapting our company to our customers‘ requirements, the switch to VoIP allows us a very flexible workplace design,“ says IT administrator Mrowka. „In addition, we were able to meet the wishes of many employees to work both on the move and in the homeoffice.“ Now it is also possible to make calls outside the company conveniently via the Internet using the usual landline service numbers. All you need to do is install a software phone on your laptop, tablet or smartphone.

The browser can be used to configure call forwarding or to block certain phone numbers. In addition, presence information, chats or individual mailboxes for IP systems are even easier to use and better integrated into the system. VoIP also offers flexible scalability: IP system connections provide a variable number of voice channels without the need to install a new network termination device or new cables. New channels are simply booked online as required.

Even in problem situations with business-critical workflows, the new IP telephony could support the company significantly. „We had a case in which there were problems with a local authority regarding vehicle registrations,“ explains Ingo Mrowka. „Thanks to IP telephony, we were able to easily redirect the increased volume of customer calls to an ad-hoc Voxtron hotline in the head office. We were not able to offer our customers the usual fast service, but in a short time we were able to find the best solution with them“.

In addition, contact centres and IP telephony at Kroschke enables further efficient services in the company portfolio. „As a service provider, we can provide our customers from the banking sector with precise logging of our calls made as an outbound service,“ says Ingo Mrowka. „Length and number are reported and billed on a daily basis. If desired, we can also provide a fully transparent list of phone numbers.“

Kroschke‘s conclusion is consistently positive: „We are very satisfied with the new IP solution and the smooth migration process,“ sums up IT Director Andreas Krohn. „IP technology as a future-proof solution enables us to accelerate workflows, flexibly expand our service portfolio and remain adaptable to all business changes at all times“.