EDV

Koorong is a Sydney based retail company, offering more than 100,000 Christian products, including books, bibles, music, videos, giftware and software. Products are sold via Koorong retail outlets located across Australia, as well as via mail-order catalogue and online sales.

Koorong has successfully deployed an Australia wide IP Telephony solution using several Mitel 3300 Integrated Communications Platforms, and a distributed 6100 Contact Centre Solution. With approximately 400 staff Australia wide, a distributed contact centre is a key part of Koorong’s business, supporting their sophisticated combined retail, mail order catalogue, and online sales operation.

Problem

Robert Bootes, IT Manager for Koorong said, “Our distributed Mitel Contact Centre Solution handles more than 1,000 inbound sales and service inquiries every day, servicing several time zones across a 13 hour work day.” Robert Bootes continued, “Our old contact centre was a reporting black hole. It was difficult to track performance and productivity. We looked at more than 20 other solutions before we settled on a Mitel 3300 ICP with 6100 Contact Centre Solution. Mitel simply offered the best-integrated IP Telephony package for the money.”

Solution

“Mitel’s solution has given us enormous flexibility in how we allocate our inbound phone inquiries to staff. Staff can now be rostered efficiently across time zones, with calls automatically sent to the best person – regardless of their location. We can now offer much more flexible work conditions to staff, better handle call volume surges, and our productivity has received a major boost.”

Koorong has major retail locations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, each with a Mitel 3300 ICP IP Telephony installation. Each Mitel 3300 ICP is networked via IP MPLS services to create a seamless nationwide solution. A further 8 retail locations across regional Australia, and a warehouse in Sydney are integrated into the solution.

Agents for the distributed 6100 Contact Centre are able to be located anywhere that an IP network connection is available. More than 10% of Koorong’s sales transactions are processed via the www.koorong.com website. Despite the success of website sales, Koorong has found that many clients still wish to speak directly with staff. Koorong’s contact centre agents generate approximately 10% of company revenue.

To supplement sales generated by the retail outlets and website, 120,000 catalogues are mailed to clients each month. Each catalogue marketing campaign generates a surge in the volume of telephone sales and inquiries.

Koorong’s Account Manager, Tom Carruthers of Essential Data + Voice, said, “The distributed Mitel Contact Centre Solution allows Koorong to effectively handle demand surges, without needing a large centralised workforce, as additional customer service staff can be rostered at any Koorong location to handle the additional call volume.”

Gwilym Funnell, Mitel Australia Country Manager commented, “Mitel’s IP Telephony solutions allow businesses to turbocharge customer service productivity. With IP telephony, there is no need to put all of your contact centre eggs in one basket. Staff across the business can be part of the inbound customer support team – regardless of location.”

Administration of the Mitel IP Telephony solution is handled centrally, with easy to understand web-based administration tools. Tasks which formerly needed an expensive voice support engineer to visit the site are now routinely handled by in-house IT support staff. Detailed contact centre reports are now automatically generated and emailed to relevant staff on a daily basis.