iForce Case Study

Hosted telephony brings costs savings, flexibility and greater control to iForce’s multi-site organisation.

iForce provides fulfilment and returns management services for Sainsburys, Tesco, Boots and John Lewis to mention but a few. Communication within the company is key to meeting the high performance standards demanded by these High Street brands.

The challenge

With up to 1,500 employees spread across seven sites in various parts of the UK, iForce needed an affordable and efficient telephone system. To add to their difficulties, each site used a different switch which was supported by a different telecoms supplier with different maintenance agreements and functionality. Managing such a diverse and disparate system was costly, inefficient and, at times, frustrating.

At the beginning of 2009, the company decided to consolidate its telephone systems into one supplier. The company is always keen to take advantage of new technology to create efficiencies and boost productivity and was interested in exploring the possibility of implementing VoIP and hosted telephony.

Following a review of potential suppliers, iForce chose Inclarity’s hosted telephony system supported by Arrow.

Lower costs, greater functionality

The Inclarity hosted telephony system from Arrow gives iForce all the functionality of a traditional office PBX telephone system combined with the flexibility and cost effectiveness of a hosted solution.

The single greatest advantage of a hosted system is the impact on the communications budget. No expensive initial purchase of the system, zero maintenance or support charges and all handsets are rented so cash flow is easily managed and the system can be readily adapted to suit any organisation’s size and requirements.

Flexible working, flexible technology

For organisations with multiple sites and remote workers, Inclarity provides easy call management and flow. Receptionists are able to answer and transfer calls to and from any site at the click of a mouse. Hunt groups, voicemail and other advanced call-handling options are all managed via a simple, easy to use web browser.

iForce has 168 subscribers spread across the seven sites which all have their own phone numbers. With a few clicks of the mouse via the web interface they can easily re-direct incoming calls for Bromford Gate so that they can be answered at their Corby site and vice versa. This is very handy for multi-site organisations as it allows them to continue to answer calls even if a local site is unavailable (e.g. weather enforced closures, staff unavailability etc.)

20% Cost saving

In the first year of using the Inclarity system, iForce reduced its telecoms costs by 20% each month. This is due mainly to free calls between sites and, as the system is hosted, a maintenance contract is no longer required.

Other benefits experienced by iForce include the flexibility of the reporting and billing suites. The information provided by these two modules has helped reduce the number of lines used by the company as well as call costs.

Superb communication and fast issue resolution

Chris Chapman, IT Network Support, has found the overall experience of implementing mission critical technology to be a positive one. “Both Inclarity and Arrow have been extremely helpful and supportive. In particular, Arrow’s responsiveness and superb communication means that when we have issues they are always resolved as quickly and effortlessly as possible”.

With mission critical systems, customer service and support must be excellent. Arrow works closely with all customers providing dedicated points of contact across all areas of the business, a clear escalation path and customers always speak to a live person straight away.

Client Profile

Sector: Fulfilment services
Locations: 7 sites across the UK
Employees: 1,500