Swinton Enterprise Telephony Project Adrian Hazeldine IT & Business Change Director
Swinton – a few facts & figures Personal Lines insurance broker Approx 3000 employees 2.5 million policies in force 460 branches – ave 4.5 people in each Inbound & Outbound Call Centres Specialist units e.g. Motorcycle
Project Objectives Improve call answer performance Enhance management information Achieve a standard enterprise wide telephony platform to facilitate flexibility, growth and cross team business. Replace old Meridian used for HQ and Inbound Call Centre
0800 Call Routing Solution Best use of both IN and in-house telephony - evolution/ balance risk WAN constraint (ADSL into branches) – 2 VoIP channels into each branch Didn’t want to go to full virtual call centre agent process (cost/ behaviour) Resilience vital given value of 0800 sales calls / marketing cost
0800 Call Routing – previous model Local Branch (4 Advisors) Buddy Branch (4 Advisors) Call Centre (50 Advisors)
0800 Call Routing – previous model Manchester Call centre Unlimited Wait Time 3 IN Network 20 Seconds Wait Time Region 1 2 BR2 1 20 Seconds Wait Time BR1 PSTN
0800 Call Routing – new model Local Branch (4 Advisors) Cluster (up to say 40 Advisors) Call Centre (If necessary)
0800 Call Routing – new model Manchester Unanswered cluster calls routed to Call Centre Call Centre 3 PBX 2 IN Network Unanswered calls routed to cluster branches Area X (2-10 Branches) 1 Branch n 20 Second Wait Time Branch 1 Branch 3 Branch 2
Alcatel solution – hardware overview Motorcycle Unit (Maidstone) Remote Media Gateway Caravan Unit (Leeds) Remote Media Gateway Head Office Call Centre & Back Office (Manchester) 7 x Alcatel Application Servers NICE Call Recording Branch Network (Nationwide) 450 x Remote Media Gateway Outbound/Inbound Unit (Halifax) Alcatel 4400 & Dialler
New Branch Handset Branch Name Line 1 – direct 0800 Line 2 – 0800 cluster overspill Line 3 – branch specific STD calls Line 4 - internal
Alcatel - Total Solution Manchester Alcatel Voice Servers Halifax Management Server IN Network IP PCX Media Gateways IN Network PSTN IP PCX Alcatel Switch Alcatel Switch IP WAN IP Trunks NW & Cumbria (67 Branches) Scotland & NE (58 Branches) South (57 Branches) East (40 Branches) SW & Midlands (66 Branches) E Mids & Yorkshire (60 Branches) Media Gateway Media Gateway Media Gateway Media Gateway Media Gateway Media Gateway PSTN PSTN IN Network
Cluster Call Routing Strategy IN Network Cluster Call Presented to all handsets In cluster GMS Manchester ISDN30 Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server 4 Server 5 Server 6 Server 7 Swintons IP Network Cluster Branch Branch Branch x n IN Network ISDN
Cluster Call Routing Strategy IN Network Cluster Call answered and In progress GMS Manchester ISDN30 Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server 4 Server 5 Server 6 Server 7 Swintons IP Network Cluster Branch Branch Branch IN Network ISDN
Project milestones achieved Nov 2005 – Tender process Mar 2006 – Proof of concept July 2006 – Motorcycle Unit installed (40 users) Sep 2006 – Call Centre/Head Office installed (500 users) Oct 2006 – Caravan Unit installed (40 users) Jan 2007 – orders placed for ISDN channels into branches Mar 2007 – Branch Network installations start Sep 2007 – Branch Network installations complete (450 branches)
Further Developments Virtualisation of Inbound Call Centres – Manchester/Halifax Virtualisation of 2 Taxi Units – Manchester/Liverpool Virtualisation of Commercial Insurance Unit – Manchester/Isle of Wight/ others to follow Remote Outbound seats Setup of new 150 seat call centre by Jan 2008
Summary – approach Clear business objectives & involvement Suppliers were challenged to find the solution we wanted Value of proof of concept work Strong project management Partnership approach (Swinton/ Amillan/ Alcatel)
Summary – solution Strengths Call centre but not a call centre… Very flexible MI strengths / 4760 management Cost effective for small remote sites Resilient with the PCS card option Weaknesses: IP resource management (channels/ licences)