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TRANSPORT & GENERAL WORKS UNION CASE STUDY |
Gamma’s hosted IP solution is being used across more than 80 sites for the Transport and General Works Union.
The Transport and General Works Union (TGWU) is the UK’s largest general union with over 800,000 members throughout the UK and Ireland. The union aims to represent members of the workforce and improve their rights and conditions. The TGWU has been using BT’s Meridian telephone system for a number a years and has found its services insufficient, inflexible and expensive to run and maintain.
LARGE MULTI SITE REQUIREMENT
Focus4U is a UK based reseller that specialises in corporate telephony solutions. The company was approached by the TGWU to solve its telephony issues and help find an alternative solution that matched the company’s needs.
With over 80 sites throughout the UK, the TGWU was spending a substantial amount making site-to-site calls. The company was also undergoing continuous changes, such as internal relocations and resizing and needed a telephony system which was flexible and easy to transfer. Its previous phone system was costing money in manpower to engineer and was also complex and time consuming to maintain.
The TGWU required a more flexible and lower cost phone system and the Union didn’t want to be stuck with a phone system that required ongoing investment. TGWU were also in need of an entire upgrade of its old and outdated phone systems, and required a service that offered new and improved features.
THE SOLUTION
Focus4U was quick to identify that by using Gamma Telecom’s Communicator telephony system, the TGWU would benefit and its requirements would be met. The Mitel-based Communicator system is especially designed for multi site businesses and the system aims to reduce the overall cost of telephony.
Of particular benefit to the TGWU is the Communicator’s offering of free site-to-site calls, having 80 sites across the UK, which need to keep in touch with one another. Free calls also extend to employees who work from home, in distributed offices or international satellite offices. The system also gives all staff access to their own voicemail, auto attendant and hunt groups, meaning that customer calls will never be lost. The cost saving is substantial. The system saves money by reducing the manpower costs involved in managing the system, on top of the free site-to-site calls. The system is also easily scalable and flexible for a company that is expanding, shrinking, or on the move, the company only has to pay for what it needs.
"Communicator is treated as one phone system per company as opposed to having one phone system per site. This is much easier to manage, and makes the billing much more straightforward for the reseller and the end user."
Richard Bligh, Marketing Director at Gamma Telecom
RESULTS
The company has found Gamma’s Communicator telephony solution easy to install, and it has also enabled the company to make its various changes without the complexity factor in reengineering the telephony systems. The TGWU has successfully moved its employees around internally without any service down time or additional cost.
"We are finding our new phone system much more efficient than our old BT system. The main benefit is that the TGWU has seen some significant cost savings, which was the dominant reason for the upgrade in the first place. The union has also seen many other advantages, such as the extra features which we have found useful and now can’t be without, and crucially it has offered us a much more flexible service."
Tony Johnson at the TGWU
"Focus4U has been working with Gamma Telecom for the last four years and has found the service reliable, and the products of excellent value. Focus4U currently holds about 350 licensees of the Communicator phone system and there is a huge potential for this number to increase in the upcoming months."
Ralph Gilbert, Managing Director at Focus4U
"This installation is a testament to Gamma’s ability to put a really compelling IP Telephony solution together based on our 3600 platform. We look forward to further developing our relationship with Gamma as we continue to support them in their strong position in the hosted IP market."