Using IP Telephony to Lower Costs for Retailers in the UK
Good communications are essential within the UK retail industry. Retailers must be able to efficiently communicate with both colleagues and customers to ensure they deliver optimum service. Mike Bielinski, CEO at Vodat International, says that retailers should look to IP telephony to reduce costs and deliver an even more focused customer experience.
The roots of IP telephony can be traced back to the emergence of technological convergence. This was the first opportunity for telephone calls to be delivered free over the network. The continued rise of digital communication has made it possible to deliver text, audio and video material over the same wired, wireless or fibre-optic connections and at a much more reasonable price.
For retailers, good communications links are crucial and in the past this technology only came at a high price. Telephone communications between staff across different retail branches is essential and store staff also needs to be in regular contact with their head office environment.
But with British retailers facing rising costs and with margins getting smaller, many retail organisations are looking to save money while not allowing service to be affected. The introduction of IP telephony can help in reducing overall telecommunication costs and bring benefits to the quality of customer service.
Saving Money with IP Telephony
Initially, switch manufacturers used traditional hardware and applied firmware which enabled voice to be delivered over IP that was then converted locally to analogue.
However, many retail organisations are now interested in delivering IP telephony through soft switches, voice becomes just another piece of data and the telephone switch is just another application. Consequently transmitting the voice and potentially integrating it with other data means that there is a lot more flexibility in terms of what can be delivered.
By adopting a soft switch approach, retail companies can manage calls more cheaply across their network and the total cost of ownership is less in terms of reduced line rentals hardware maintenance costs and call charges which take advantage of SIP trunking. SIP trunking means that calls are routed via IP outside the local exchange - which means that the call does not incur an exchange ingress charge.
Better Customer Service
Communication is also about breaking down barriers. There are now many other prohibitors to be overcome as people use many different devices and channels to communicate - mobile, e-mail, web chat, Internet, PDA's etc. The goal is to break down those barriers so that people using different Medias and different devices can still communicate to anyone, anywhere at all times. The introduction of IP Telephony enables retail companies to deliver voice and data anytime and anywhere to any device - now referred to as unified communications.
Retail staff needs to be able to speak to colleagues but also ensure that their customers receive a quality service experience. IP technology comes into its own when phone calls can be redirected when lines are busy. For example, if someone is trying to call a store on a busy Saturday afternoon, the call can be diverted to a customer service centre. If staff in the call centre have access to the CRM system then they can assist customers with queries regarding stock availability, providing the same service experience that staff in store could deliver.
For UK retailers this technology provides fantastic opportunities to interact with customers across all of the sales and contact channels. The goal for forward thinking retailers is to re-organise their enterprise around the customer, using customer information gleaned through unified communication links to dynamically change business processes, personalise offerings and allow customers the flexibility to browse enquire, buy and return on any combination of channels depending on each and every individual shopping mission. The introduction of an IP telephony system can help deliver a more flexible approach to retailing.
For complete details about Vodat International's IP telephony solutions for retail businesses in the UK, please call us today on 0161 406 1820 or contact us by e-mail.
Added: 14/07/2009 15:48:11
